[Most recent entry is at end.]
[Previous log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLog2005.txt ]


11/19/2005 (Saturday)
At anchor at Luperon.

NOAA weather forecast this morning cut off right at the
key point; all I heard was that for the forecast for the
weekend is unchanged.  Chris Parker is off the air until
Wednesday, I think.

No diesel dripping from fuel filter housing.

Heard on VHF that Commandante will issue despachos today.
I'm planning to leave tonight.  Have to snorkel under the
boat and scrape hull and prop again, sigh.  Haven't seen
any jellyfish since the rains started.

Heard of at least 3 other boats leaving today or tonight.
Most heading east.  Wouldn't be surprised if 10 leave.
Only troubling thing is that seas are still from NE.
4-6 through Sunday, and 3-5 after that.

Hauled up the first 20 feet or so of my anchor chain, but
there's hardly any growth on it.  Maybe the heavy rains
killed stuff off ?

Overheard someone on the radio saying they were going to
leave Monday for PR, so I called them and asked why.  Turns
out they are waiting to pick up a package Monday morning,
otherwise they'd leave today or tomorrow.

Fuel level 10.3 inches at engine hour 3789.5
Added water to batteries and strapped them down.
Cleaned engine intake strainer.

At 10:30, snorkeled under the boat and scraped prop, rudder,
hull.  Did almost 1.5 hours of it; looking fairly good.
No jellyfish, but cut my ankle on a barnacle, and the fins
chafed open some cuts they'd made on my feet the last couple
of times I snorkeled.

Up just in time to listen to the noon NOAA weather, and
it sounds fine.  Heard "Stephanie Lynn" on the VHF; they're
out already, and they say it's gorgeous out there, the
swells are smooth.  "Wounded Spirit" says they'll be out
by 1 PM or so.

Dinghied in to town, did internet (slow), bought bananas
and tangerines and onions and bread and pastries.  Came away
thinking I should have spent the rest of my pesoes ($3 worth)
in the bakery, but I would have come out with 5 pounds of
pastry that would have gone straight to my waistline.

To the officials, and the Immigration guy took his time over
my papers even though I'd been to see him just 10 days ago,
and I'm paid up through April.  Then almost a disaster: the
Port Authority guy is gone, because it's Saturday afternoon.
Might have to come back tomorrow !
Finally the Navy guy very nicely gave me my despacho anyway.

Out to the boat.  Hoisted dinghy and lashed it, lashed down
jugs on deck, put out cockpit cushions and instruments and
charts and so on.

Engine on, anchor up, moving around 4 PM.  Throttled up to
almost cruising speed right away, to see how the engine
would be, and it started surging !  But it always seems
to be surging upwards in RPM; as long as it doesn't surge
down and stall, I can tolerate that.  Not a good sign.

Said goodbyes on the radio as I left, then out through the
inlet.  A bit rolly outside, but not bad, and the weather
is supposed to get lighter and lighter as the days go by.
12+ knots of wind right on the nose, and swells from the
NE as I'm going E and ESE.  Making about 5 knots over ground.

A charter trimaran came in just after I went out.  Half
an hour later, a 105-foot motoryacht passed me, heading for
Luperon.  Don't know where they're going to put him.

Salad and peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches for dinner.

I start doing the routine little things while on a motoring
passage: checking engine gauges, looking into engine
compartment every hour or two, looked into bilge a couple
of times, checked stuffing box once.

Several hours later, passing Puerto Plata and Sosua.  Started
having odd behavior from the auto-pilot.  Out of the blue,
it suddenly did a hard left turn (when I was down below for
a minute, of course).  Turned it off, and had trouble
steering the boat back onto course.  For a moment, thought
I'd lost steering or rudder, which would be a total disaster !
But got control again.  And after turning auto-pilot on
again, it seems to work again.  Which is odd; I thought
maybe the speedometer cable in the auto-pilot had stripped
again.  But if that was the case, it wouldn't have revived.

Kept going, but now auto-pilot is failing every 30 to 90
minutes.  Makes a hard left turn, and I have to turn it
off, get the boat back on course, and turn on the auto-pilot
again, which takes a couple of minutes to warm up and be
ready to go again.  And now I can't sleep much, and have
to stay in the cockpit full-time, since I don't dare take
my eye off our course for long.  It would be more comfortable
to nap down in my berth for 10 or 15 minutes at a time.

Still, it's a clear, warmish night, and the wind eases more,
taking away some of the clutter on top of the swells.
And I'm making good progress, finally out of Luperon on my
way to Puerto Rico !  But it's all motoring; the wind
is light and dead on the nose the whole way.

Motoring on and on.  Passed Sosua around 9 or 10, passed
Rio San Juan around 3 AM.  Those are the only two semi-viable
anchorages in this area.

Speed over ground goes up and down, without touching the
throttle.  Varies from 4.8 to 6.2 knots as I pass various
capes and bays and such.  Strange; I don't see how the swells
would form those kinds of currents.


11/20/2005 (Sunday)
In transit from Luperon to Puerto Rico.

Making a nice 6.2 knots over ground as I pass Cabo Francis
Viejo, but then just as I start a 40-mile stretch along
Bahia Escocesa, my speed drops to 5.2 !  Bummer; I'm tired
and I want to get to the only anchorage in this whole
stretch of coast, but it's at the other end of this 40 miles.

And it's hard to keep an eye on my course here, while trying
to shut my eyes for a minute or two, because I'm far off the
coast and there are few landmarks to use.  So I have to pop
up and read the compass or GPS.  I'm tired.

Dawn comes, and there's a squall, but it stays off to the
south of me.  See some fish darting around, but I don't have
the energy or inclination to fish.

Listen to the radio a little, but the alternator kills
shortwave reception, and I don't get any English-language FM
stations.  And I'm too tired to listen much.

Heard some cruisers ahead talking on the VHF; I haven't
seen any other cruisers yet.  Some boat was saying their
alternator had died and their batteries were very low, and
they were trying to decide whether to divert into Samana.
But the only Samana chart they had was a tiny one in their
GPS or something.

Finally finish the 40-mile transit, and start approaching
the El Valle anchorage.  I hope it's decent; I'm very tired.
The guide says the anchorage is no good with any N in the
swells, and they seem to be mostly E at this point.  Maybe
I'm trying to talk myself into thinking that.

As I approach the anchorage around 11, I see a sailboat
5 miles behind me, coming here too.

Takes a long time to approach the anchorage; the mountains
here are high, and distances are deceptive.

Just outside the anchorage, auto-pilot goes crazy again,
and this time it won't give up.  I finally have to throw
the switch on the electrical panel to turn it off.

The guide describes this anchorage as in a "fjord", but
it's more like a "funnel", and today it's like being in
a washing machine.  The swells are coming in and bouncing
and heaving in every direction.  The 15-foot depth is
where the guide says it is, and I put the anchor down.
But now there are breakers onto beach and rocks about
30 feet behind the boat, and every now and then a big
swell lifts the whole boat as it heads for the beach
and breaks heavily onto it.  And the boat is rocking
and pitching; no way I could rest here.  If the anchor
suddenly dragged, I'd have 15 seconds to realize it,
get to the helm, start the engine, put it in gear, and
motor off.  This is crazy !

I raise the anchor, further tiring myself, and motor
away just as "Maranatha" comes in.  I tell them I think
it's crazy, but they say they really need the rest, and
they anchor exactly where I was.  I try to find calmer
water, there is none, and I leave.  As I look back, I
see their boat heaving and pitching just as mine was.
But they are a crew of two, so maybe one can rest while
the other stays at the helm.

So it's on to Samana.  A place I really didn't want to
go, because the officials have a bad reputation.  And
it's on the other side of this enormous peninsula, maybe
6 or more hours away, and it's 12:30 or so now.  And I'm
very tired.  And now on the west side of this peninsula,
I'm heading NE and the afternoon wind is picking up and
the land is guiding the swells right down onto my bow.
I'm making 4.2 knots.

I try to concentrate, and decide the best thing is to
try to fix the auto-pilot.  It may just have a loose
wire or something.  So I open parts of the helm binnacle,
looking at the wiring to the control panel there.  I
can't work for more than 20 seconds or so at a stretch,
before having to go back to the helm and steer the boat
back onto course.  And the boat is pitching and plunging
into the swells.

Nothing obvious in the helm binnacle, so I put it back
together.  Then I remember a troubleshooting checklist
in the auto-pilot manual, and read that.  Constant left
turn at power-up could mean stuck compass card or burnt
out photocell lightbulb.

Those are in the auto-pilot "binnacle", which is under
the starboard-aft berth.  Unfortunately, that's the storage
area for my huge pile of unread books, some clothes and
blankets and such, a big fallen-over pile of charts, and
other stuff.  I go back there and start excavating the
pile, dumping the books into the aft head shower, and the
other stuff into the aft cabin.  Back up to cockpit every
20 or 30 seconds to steer the boat back onto course.

Eventually I roll back the mattress, open the storage
compartment, and can see the "binnacle".  Tough time
getting the screws loose, but I get it open.  Card seems
sticky, but moves.  Auto-pilot still steers constant-left
when turned on.  Then I see that the light on top of the
"binnacle" doesn't light when the auto-pilot is turned on.
So the bulb must be burnt out.

Sweaty and tired and constantly going back to the helm
to steer the boat, I lie with my head down into the
storage compartment and take apart the wiring and then
lift the whole compass assembly out.  Test the spare
bulb, and it's okay.  Get the old one out (not easy, this
this is a Rube Goldberg assembly) and the new bulb in
(harder).  Put it back into the "binnacle", put the
cover back on, power up the auto-pilot, and STILL no
lighted bulb !  So it's not the bulb.  I test the one
I pulled out, and it's okay.  I could cry.

So I give up on fixing the auto-pilot, and settle into
the cockpit for the slog around the peninsula.  It's
slow and painful up the NW face to Cabo Cabron, motoring
straight into the wind and swells.  Then it's slow and
painful and dangerous across the face of Cabo Cabron,
motoring through big swells coming in a couple of directions,
hoping the engine won't quit and wreck me on the rock
cliffs of the cape.  As I turn more SE and head for Cabo
Samana, I finally have a little angle on the wind to work
with, and I raise the mainsail and motor-sail.  Now I'm
doing around 5 knots.  Still, if the engine quits, I'll
be blown into Bahia Rincon and wreck there.  And this is
the first time I'm really using my repaired mainsail;
suppose the corner tears off again ?

My mind is just whirling through all of these disaster
scenarios, thinking of the MayDay I'd broadcast and how
I'd wade ashore with nothing left.  I try to force my
thoughts into a more positive vein, and start lecturing
myself that I will NOT let that happen.  If the engine
quits I'll turn to port and sail NW above Cabo Cabron,
and sail all the way back to Puerto Plata or Luperon if
I have to.  I will NOT lose the boat or my life.

Finally claw my way around Cabo Samana, staying well off
the breakers that extend out from it, and now get onto
a better sailing angle, mostly a beam reach.  But there's
still a nasty rocky lee shore just 2 miles downwind of me.

Now the swells start to help me, coming more from astern,
and the wind is more astern too.  That gets a bit awkward
after a while: the wind eases (too much) and the mainsail
starts fluttering and jibing, especially when a swell
raises the stern and slews the boat around.  But I can't
furl the mainsail while sailing downwind, especially
because the wind puffs and gusts and fills the sail often.
So I just try to limit the jibing and slewing, and keep
going.

Looks like I might arrive just after sunset, which is
better than I hoped.  When I left El Valle, I thought
I'd arrive at 8 PM or so.

Can't raise any of the cruisers I assume must be in Samana;
either the peninsula is blocking their reception, or they're
not listening.

Finally turn the corner of Punta Balandra, and start heading
W into Bahia Samana.  It's enormous, and filled with deeper
water than I thought; there are no obstacles.  I finally
raise a cruiser, Dwight on "Stephanie Lynn", and ask him
a few questions.  He tells me to do what I already knew:
anchor in the lee of Cayo Leventado island.  It turns out
to be far bigger than I thought from the charts.

I smell a sweet smell from land; wonder if that's sugar
cane or eucalyptus or something ?

Nice sunset, and I manage to get around the W end of the
island and find decent water and get the anchor down about
6:45, just as the last light is disappearing from the sky.
Approx lat 19.10.000 long 69.16.600

Start putting stuff away, clearing out my berth so I can
sleep, opening hatches to get air through, and letting
engine idle so it can cool down.  Finally shut it off;
shut-down solenoid still not working.
Batteries are surprisingly low (not bad, just not fully
charged) for having the alternator charge them for so
long.  I think it's because the refrigerator always
seems to run constantly when I'm on a rough passage,
and maybe because I ran the blower for 5 minutes while
the engine was idling; the blower sucks a lot of power.
Adjust the refrigerator to shut it off a bit.

Quickly whip up a salad and tuna-salad-sandwich and
rum-and-coke dinner, and read a book while wolfing the
food down.  I wasn't able to read while on passage;
it was too rolly, and I was afraid I'd make myself
seasick.  So now it's wonderful to read something.

"Stephanie Lynn" pulls in next to me about 7:30; they
did a lot more sailing than motoring, and got here
later even though they left 5 hours before me.  And
they didn't try to go to El Valle; that fiasco cost
me 3 or 4 hours and a lot of extra stress and danger.

To bed, and slept decently.  Boat moving more than I
was used to in Luperon, which was almost dead calm
at night.


11/21/2005 (Monday)
At anchor at Cayo Leventado in Samana Bay in the DR.

Rain before dawn, and wind has shifted to the west, so
now the island is a lee shore for me.  But anchor is
holding, and I have 11 feet of water, and wind is not
too strong.

NOAA weather at 6 AM sounds good all through Friday:
wind E to NE 10, sometimes variable.  So if I can fix the
auto-pilot and get some rest, I could leave again maybe
Tuesday evening.  I'm a bit tired this morning; not back
to strength yet.

Suddenly dawned on me that I probably should install a
second auto-pilot in the boat.  When single-handing, if the
auto-pilot goes out, it can be dangerous.

Talked to "Stephanie Lynn" on VHF.  They're heading for town
to check in (they're staying a while; he has a house here).
Asked about their mainsail being half-up all night, and
he said that was deliberate, using it as a riding sail.
I thought maybe it was stuck.  I mentioned the sweet smell
I smelled here, and Steffi suggested it just smells good
here compared to the harbor full of "poop" in Luperon.

I asked, and Dwight said we might be able to get away
without checking in at all, if we stay here for a day or
two and then leave without going ashore.  Or the Navy
might come by and make us check in.

"Maranatha" came in about 7:30; apparently they spent
the day and some of the night in the La Valle anchorage,
but Desmond says they didn't get much rest there.
They anchored a bit closer to the island than I thought
wise, but then picked up and moved a little further out.

An official-looking skiff came by, and I thought "crap,
the Navy is coming to make us check in", but it's just
staff for the resort on the island.

Around 8, I'm hearing some "anchor chain dragging over
coral bottom" noises, and maybe it's time to move further
away from the island.  I check engine oil to make sure
starting engine will be okay, check depth, and start
watching for movement and listening.  Wind is up slightly.
And some brief rain; don't want to re-anchor in that if
I can help it.  But boat seems to stabilize.  Maybe I just
heard chain noises because the wind has swung slightly S
from the initial W.  Great weather for going E !  But it's
probably just a local bay effect.

At 8:30, heard Dwight saying that "Maranatha" was going
to keep going to PR, but the weather is pretty bad out
there, 30 knots and storm cells everywhere.  Hoyt on
"Wounded Spirit" on radio too; they're in the town harbor.
"Star Chaser" is there too, with alternator shot.  Hoyt
says he told the Commandante that his Luperon despacho
should be all he needs, since it says "to PR" and he's
here only because of weather; so that should avoid any fee.

By 9:15, wind and swells are stronger, and I'm starting to
think I should move to the E end of the island.

Checked engine fluids, added water to batteries.
Fuel level 7.0 inches at engine hour 3816.5
So I used 3.3 inches (about 36 to 43 gallons) in 27 hours.
So that's 1.3 to 1.6 gallons per hour.  Should have
77 to 91 gallons left in the tank.

At 10:10, raised anchor (not easy in these conditions) and
motored downwind to the E end of the island.  But down there,
somehow big swells are coming in from the east !  It's
better here than at the upwind end, but still not acceptable.

So, a long slog up the bay to town, making 4 knots against
wind and swells and whitecaps.  Saw "Maranatha" pitching up
and down at anchor, and was tempted to call them to tell
them the other end of the island was no good, but didn't
want to wake them up if they were sleeping.

Up and into the town harbor, and it's very nice and calm,
but water a bit deeper than I hoped.  Anchored in 22 feet
of water next to "Star Chaser" about 11:35;
lat 19.12.040 long 69.19.981

Skiff with two "security" and provisioning-type guys came by
to say hello and welcome to the "new Samana".  Then we saw
"Maranatha" coming in, and in fact on the radio they said
the swells at the island had snapped their anchor chain
snubber, and bent some stainless-steel part !

Called "Stephanie Lynn", since Dwight is trying to fix
"Star Chaser"s alternator problem, to offer my spare
alternator to them.  But he says he thinks it's really an
ignition switch problem, and now I remember that they had
the same problem in Luperon, and Dwight was trying to fix
it for them there.

Listened to the noon NOAA weather forecast, then relayed it
to Hoyt on "Wounded Spirit".  I'm surprised that someone
who comes down here doesn't have a way of getting weather
info on board.  And I thought he was a pretty experienced
cruiser, too.  Forecast sounds great for leaving tonight,
but I need another night of sleep.  Forecast is still good
for leaving Tuesday night.

Could I go even if I had to hand-steer all the way ?  It's
about 60 NM south and 130 NM east to Mayaguez from here.
Say about 170 NM total, because the route wanders slightly.
At 5 knots, that's 34 hours.  I just did about 27 hours,
with auto-pilot 2/3 of the way, and it was difficult.

If I stop at Mona Island, that's about 55 NM south and 85 NM
east from here, say 120 NM total, or 24 hours at 5 knots.

Light wind from S by 12:45.  Looks like this W stuff this
morning was just some local or squall effect.

Hoyt on "Wounded Spirit" left about 1:15, heading for
Puerto Rico.

Started working on auto-pilot after lunch.  After a few
false starts, found a wire that had pulled out of it's
crimp-on connector in the "binnacle".  Put on a new
connector, put everything back together, and it STILL
doesn't work !  Thought for sure that would do it.

Turns out that wire is the sense back from the photocell,
so it doesn't explain why the bulb doesn't light.

Found a bundle of wires chafing against a rotating shaft
inside the "control box", and tie-wrapped them away from it.
Still no go.

Port Authority guy came out at 2:30 and relieved me of $11.

Opened up the auto-pilot PHC box on the helm binnacle and
started testing voltages in there, and it doesn't seem to
be getting proper power.  Disconnected the
rudder-position-indicator wire from in there on the theory
that it was shorted out somewhere, but that didn't fix it.
Seems the power wires come from the auto-pilot "power box"
in the engine compartment, so I looked there.  But the
compartment still is pretty warm from running the engine
this morning, so I didn't get much done.  Eventually gave
up and put everything back together; will tackle it again
tomorrow morning.

Commandancia tried to extract a 500-peso despacho fee out
of "Maranatha", but Dwight said don't pay it, and they
didn't.  I talked to "Maranatha", and we're both planning
to leave tomorrow afternoon.  I told them they can't
really enter PR at Boqueron, according to the guidebooks,
especially since they are non-USA boat and crew, and they
were surprised to hear that.

Salad and spaghetti and rum-and-coke for dinner.  Took
a refreshing shave and shower, too.

Fairly heavy rain at 10 PM or so.


11/22/2005 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Samana town harbor.

Got a good night's sleep; feeling good.

6 AM NOAA weather still sounds good.  Wind and swells will
start picking up on Friday, but by then I should be in PR
or (if I stop at Mona Island) at least approaching PR with
it sheltering me a bit.

Looking at the chart, I think I'm going to change plans:
instead of crossing the "hourglass shoal" in the Mona Passage
and going to Mona Island, I'm going to stay north and head
straight for Mayaguez.  Mona Island is a little further
out of the way than I thought.  And if the engine quits,
the more north I've made the easier it will be to sail in
to PR, in NE to E wind.

Opened up the auto-pilot "power unit" and started looking
at the wiring.  Nothing obviously wrong, but I tightened
a few terminal-strip screws that really didn't need
tightening.  Powered up the auto-pilot to test some voltages,
and the second or third time I powered it up, it started
working normally !  Tried it a couple more times, and it's
definitely acting normal, and the light in the "binnacle"
is lit.  Maybe the light was lit when I quit yesterday; it's
hard to see unless you look straight down into the top of
the "binnacle".  Can't really be sure everything's okay at
anchor, since auto-pilot gets upset when it steers and sees
that the compass heading doesn't change.  But it looks good !

About 9 AM, heard "Makai" talking to "Fidelis" on the VHF,
and "Maranatha" and I were able to talk to them.  Conditions
are nice out there.  "Makai" is coming into the harbor, but
"Fidelis" is going on to PR.  "Makai"s going to stay here a
week or more.

Talked to Dwight, and he said "Star Chaser"s problem is a
bad voltage regulator, not alternator or ignition switch.
So they don't need my spare alternator, and they may be
here for a while.  He also said the Commandancia shouldn't
be bothering us any more about despacho fees; he has some
political connection here that's headed that off.

"Makai" came in and anchored about 10:30.

Looked over the engine, and found a couple of snapped
tie-wraps and a hose clamp that came off a closed
through-hull.  I think everything is degrading from
the battery acid incident 5 months ago; I need to replace
all hose-clamps as soon as I get to somewhere with a
marine store.  I have several dozen spare hose-clamps in
boxes on board, but probably not enough of the right sizes
to do every single clamp in the engine compartment.  And
I don't want to start until I've parked the boat for the
long term.

Also found that one end of a battery cable I added from
alternator case to engine ground (to keep charging path
from going through engine block) has fallen off.  It was
an optional thing; I'll let it go for now.

Debated about messing with the engine fuel system to try
to stop the surging, and finally went for it.  Bled the
two big primary filters, and what came out looked a little
watery to me.  Looked for loose nuts in the fuel piping,
and didn't really find anything.  Started the engine, and
it ran for 20 seconds and then quit.

Bled air out of the system and tried to start it over
15 or 20 worrisome minutes.  Finally got it running again,
and now I see a slow drip from the pipe-to-hose joint
on the fuel return line.  Try tightening the hose clamp;
no good.  Take the hose off, and it's very stiff, but I
don't see any cracks, so I don't cut the end off.  Add
a second hose clamp and struggle to get the hose back
on over the pipe.  Finally get it on and clamped, start
the engine, and I don't see the drip any more.  But
engine still surges.  Ran it for 10 minutes to make
sure it stayed running.

Raised anchor and left at 1 PM.  Was a little worried that
the Commandancia might come out after me trying to extract
a despacho fee, but no one stirred.  Maybe it's good that
it's siesta time.

Engine started surging badly right away; I think my fooling
with it has made it worse.  I think a little diesel is leaking
from top of fuel filter housing.  Put a wrench on it briefly
later, but no joy.  Surged less badly at near-full cruising
speed, but still worse than the previous trip.

Said good-bye to Dwight on the radio, and when he heard
my engine is surging, he said I should stay here until it's
fixed.  I said I'd been trying to fix it for 3 months, and
the engine seemed to keep running, so I'm out of here.  I
don't think he was impressed.

Must be a following current; I'm making almost 6 knots.
Sea surface almost glassy-calm at times, with a gentle swell.

Auto-pilot seems to be working fine.  Motored and motored
down Samana Bay, which is enormous.  It's pointed straight
at Puerto Rico; my course will vary between 100 and 120
degrees or so for this whole trip.  Have to avoid the
coastline south of here, a big shoal and an island in the
Mona Passage, and that's it.  Very simple navigation.

Motoring on and on, through very calm conditions.  Just
about no wind; sometimes 3-5 knots on the nose.  After a
while I put them mainsail up to steady the boat in the
gentle swells, but around 5 or so I take it back down.

It's almost sunset before I consider myself out of the
"mouth" of the Bay and into the ocean.  A solid 5 hours
just to get out of the Bay; feels like I should be halfway
to Puerto Rico now.

On down along the coastline, and then start moving off it
gradually into deeper water.  Very clear night; there are
clouds over land, but nothing out here over water.


11/23/2005 (Wednesday)
In transit from Samana DR to Mayaguez PR.

Auto-pilot quit just after midnight.  It didn't do the
constant-left-turn thing which means broken wire or
burnt-out bulb or stuck compass card; it just stopped
steering, and the boat slowly went off course.  Turned
it off and on a few times, and it will steer for less
than 5 minutes, then give up again.  So I'll have to
hand-steer.  For another 18 hours, sigh.

Hand-steering isn't bad at all in certain conditions.
If I was sailing or motor-sailing with 10-15 knots of
wind on a beam-reach or close-reach, I could set the
sails and the boat would steer itself beautifully.
Here, with no wind and gentle swells, I have to make
small steering corrections every minute or two.  In
a rough swell on the nose, I'd have to sit at the
helm every second.

Something, probably a dolphin, surfaces and blows
breath once noisily right next to the boat, startling me.
Don't think it was big enough to be a whale.  I've never
seen a whale from my boat, and I'd like to.  North or
NW or here is a major spawning grounds for whales, but
I think that happens in February.

Around midnight-thirty, I'm north of Cabo Engano, the NE
corner of the Dominican Republic, and starting out into
the Mona Passage.  Conditions are the same out here,
almost no wind, and gentle swells from ENE or E.

See lights of a freighter passing to the N, heading E.
RADAR says he's 8 miles away.

See a strange light off to the north of me.  At first
it looks like something underwater, like a submarine
coming up.  Then it looks like a lit-up cruise ship with
yellow lights.  And I realize it's the moon rising.
The way the moon has been rising this week, a soft
yellow-orange ball rising out of the ocean, somehow makes
me think of the Great Pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin
patch.  Tonight it's a half-moon; the top half is dark.

Chugging on and on through the night.  In the early
morning, clouds or haze settle around in all directions,
and it gets harder to steer, since there are no visual
points to fix on.  While I had stars to see, I could lie
down on the cockpit cushions, line up a star with one of
the pilothous windows, and rest, reaching out to tweak
the wheel a little if the star moved to one side or the
other.  That way, I could rest a little, closing my
eyes a bit.  But now I have to squint at the distant
GPS display or sit up straight to look down into the
compass, and get less rest.

Starting to worry a bit that my alternator might be
"boiling" my batteries.  I don't think it goes to the
float stage properly, or else something is wrong with
my batteries.  Even after motoring for more than 12 hours,
it's still putting 10 to 16 amps at 14.2 volts or so
into a bank of four golf-cart batteries.  And if I
stopped the engine right now, within 5 minutes with
the refrigerator taking out 4 amps or so, the under-load
voltage would be 12.5 or 12.6  Somehow that doesn't seem
right to me.  I'd expect the alternator to be putting
in maybe an amp after running for so long, and the
under-load voltage to be 12.65 or more for an hour or
more afterward.

Another freighter passing to the N around 4 AM, then
turning slightly and heading SE.

Finally dawn comes, and I can see individual clouds, and
steer using them as marks.  A couple of times I doze off
for a minute and wake to find myself well off course.
I'm tired.  I'm near the NE corner of "hourglass shoal",
a huge area that extends east from the E coast of the DR;
I've been passing N of it all night.  Now I can turn
slightly more south and head straight for Mayaguez.

Sun rises, and straight up-sun I can see an island.
A look at the chart shows that it must be Isla Desecheo,
and it should be more than 20 miles away; it must be
huge.  I steer for it.  I can't see Mona Island, which
is even bigger, but probably 30+ miles to the south.

By 10 or so, I can see vague hints of the main island
of Puerto Rico in the distance.

I spend all morning heading for the stupid Isla Desecheo;
it seems I'll never get there.  I keep thinking it's
time to turn slightly to go around it, then I realize
I'm still 7 miles away.  It's after noon before I
really do get past it.

I can see most of the west coast of Puerto Rico, and it's
totally unclear exactly where Mayaguez is.  I just use
the GPS and chart to head for it.  It's still a good 20
miles or so away.  I just keep chugging and chugging along.
I put up the "quarantine" flag.  I'm still in very deep
water here; it's still the Mona Passage.

In the early afternoon, between Isla Desecheo and
Mayaguez, the wind started to kick up, from a
port-broad-reach direction.  Could have raised sail
again but didn't bother.  Worried that this swell
will carry right into the only anchorage at Mayaguez
and make it untenable.  Start reviewing my options;
could jump 8 miles south to Puerto Real, or 18 south
to Boqueron.  But then I'd have to take taxi or bus
back to Mayaguez to clear in with Customs and Immigration.

Eventually I get closer and closer, and then see markers
where they're supposed to be, and start to figure out the
lay of the land.  I don't see any other cruising boats.

Into Mayaguez and anchored at 4 PM, at
lat 18.12.946 long 67.09.609  Anchorage is slightly
bigger than I expected, and the swells mostly die before
making it all the way in.  And by now the wind has started
to ease also.  There's a medium-size cruise ship (actually,
I think it's a ferry to DR), the "Caribbean Express" docked
on the N side of the harbor, blocking some of the swells.

Well, now I've made it to a big, somewhat contiguous
cruising grounds:  Puerto Rico and the various Virgin
Islands (Spanish, US and British).  After the nastiness
of getting here from the Bahamas, I can see why many
people stay here for years before going back.

Around 5, I hear the US Coast Guard talking to "Maranatha",
and getting the phone number of their (Japanese) cell-phone
so they can talk off the radio.  I hope they're having a
routine boarding, not any problem.

Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner.

I keep an eye on the wind and swells and the late-afternoon
thunderstorm clouds that apparently develop here every day.
And I listen to the VHF WX channels, which are active again
here in PR; they weren't in the DR.  The robot voice
mispronounces "wind", saying it as in "wind your watch" !

Called "Maranatha" and found out they're quite close in, and
they just had a routine USCG boarding.  I had been expecting
to be boarded as I came across, but they must have missed me.

"Maranatha" came in about 7 PM.  I didn't realize they
had been only 3 hours (16 miles or so) behind me the whole
time.  We should have had better VHF contact, but they
blame their radio.  Sounds like they had a fine trip.  They're
happy that their cell-phone is working again; it didn't work
the whole time they were in the DR.  They called Customs here,
and the guy said they'll be open tomorrow, but maybe he forgot
tomorrow is Thanksgiving, or maybe Immigration won't be open.
Hope we don't have to wait until Monday to clear in properly.

We talked briefly with "Fidelis", who is 18 miles south
of us in Boqueron.  Dave said "Ilean" and "Wounded Spirit"
and somebody else we know is down there.  Along with lots
of other boats, but many don't have people on them.  He says
they had to drive up to Mayaguez to clear in, as I expected;
that's what the guidebooks say.


11/24/2005 (Thursday; Thanksgiving Day)
At anchor in Mayaguez PR.

Feel pretty good; got a decent night's sleep.  Boat rolled
somewhat a number of times, but nothing bad.

And the place smells okay.  This is a commercial port, and
a major tuna-canning center, so some cruisers have been driven
away by the stink.  But I don't smell anything today.

Added water to the batteries; they were low, but not badly
low.  Fuel level 3.0 inches at engine hour 3845.6
So I used 4 inches (about 44 to 52 gallons) in 27 hours.
So that's 1.6 to 1.9 gallons per hour, much higher than
on the leg from Luperon; must be leaking some fuel into the
bilge.  But my measurements of the level in the tank have a
big margin of error in them.  And the tank definitely is not
rectangular, so a higher inch is bigger than a lower inch,
if you see what I mean.  Should have 33 to 39 gallons left
in the tank.

"Wandering Albatross" coming in at 8:45 !  Probably actually
still an hour or more out.  They're the boat with an electric
motor; I'm glad they were able to sail to here.  They must
be much better sailors (with a better sailboat) than I am.

Dinghied ashore about 9:15.  Desmond from "Maranatha" had
gone in 15 minutes earlier, but there's no sign of him, and
everything is locked gates and security fences.  Asked some
police, and was walking back to the big building, when other
police flagged me down and gave me a ride to the government
building in town.  Turned out they'd just given Desmond a
ride in, and he'd sent them back for me, I guess.

There we did Immmigration and then Customs, and all of the
officers were very nice to us.  The whole town was dead,
it being Thanksgiving day, but the officials still had
to work; apparently it's not a full holiday here.  I had
to lend Desmond $20 for his cruising permit; they had no
change and he had only $50 bills.  We chatted while we
waited, and I learned Desmond had worked as an architect
in Japan for 15 years.

Then three officers and Desmond and I piled into a Honda
Civic and they took us back to the port.  I was done, but
the Immigration forms for non-USA people were back at
the port, so Desmond had more to do, and the officials had
to see his crew.  On the way over, we entertained them with
a couple of stories, about guagua's in the DR, and how people
got to go cruising.  At the port, we all trooped through the
completely empty ferry terminal, like a small airport terminal
with baggage claim and metal detectors and so on.

I went out in my dinghy and fetched Hiro from
"Maranatha" and dropped him off ashore; he had to climb up
a big tire-fender, and for a moment he thought he was going
to fall in.  I should have picked a lower tire to drop him
off at.  Saw the couple from "Wandering Albatross" on the
pier too, heading to the officials.

What a contrast from the DR; the officials were super-nice,
and no fees (except the $25 I'd already paid for my annual
USA Customs decal).

They didn't come to the boat to inspect it, which is nice,
especially since Agriculture probably would have made me
throw away my cabbage and tomato, and maybe even the meat
out of my freezer.  I made sure I ate up the other fruit
on the way over.  When they asked about the stuff I had on
board, I just said meat from a supermarket, and lots of
canned goods.  They even asked where the cans were from !
Can't imagine why.  I've learned about clearing in through
Agriculture: just keep saying "supermarket", and that makes
them happy.

Desmond told me that when the USCG boarded him, he mentioned
that a DR local guy in Puerto Plata had latched onto him
and asked for a ride to PR.  That's why the USCG asked for
his phone number; they called him and asked for a description
of the guy.  So they'll be on the lookout for him trying to
sneak into PR somehow.  I'm amazed that the government
is that diligent !  But I'd guess the description they got
fits half of the guys in the DR.

I don't think I'm going to stay another night; the port area
is at least a mile or two from anything interesting, and the
anchorage is exposed and rolly.

So, anchor up at 11:15, and the other two boats soon did
the same.  "Maranatha" and I motor-sailed down the "inside"
route and "Wandering Albatross" sailed down the "outside"
route.  Following swells and broad-reach wind.  Tried
running the auto-pilot, but after 5 minutes it stopped
steering, and 30 seconds later it went into constant-left-
turn mode.  So I hand-steered, and had to work pretty
hard with the following seas slewing the stern around.
Lots of dark low rainclouds, and a sprinkle of rain once,
but no serious wind.  Enough wind to give a little boost to
the speed half the time.

Into Boqueron's bay, and the water is a gorgeous color here,
swimming-pool blue-green.  Anchored by 2:25, at
lat 18.01.296 long 67.10.492  About two dozen boats anchored
here, half out in a cove to the north that looks much smaller
on the sketch chart than it really is.  And I suddenly realize
I haven't been using my big chartkit of charts, I've only
used the guidebook sketch charts.

Nice beach here, and several boats I know.  A bit of a swell
coming in occasionally, even though we're protected from every
direction except west.  But this afternoon's NW swell is curving
or bouncing in.

Bummer; no WiFi signals here.  Had my hopes up.  But several
nice-looking women on the beach, at least as well as I can
tell through binoculars from a 150 yards or so away.

Was planning to make a festive chicken-onion-rice for
Thanksgiving dinner, but Dave and Annie from "Fidelis"
came by to invite me over to their boat for Thanksgiving dinner,
featuring duck !

Rained off and on in the late afternoon.

Dinghied over to "Fidelis" at 5:30, and had a great evening.
Dave and Annie from "Fidelis", Desmond and Hiro from "Maranatha",
Chris and Mary Liz from "Wandering Albatross", Hoyt and Lola from
"Wounded Spirit", and myself.  Dinner was scrumptious: roast
duck, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato salad from
Desmond, mushroom-and-green-beans, gravy, and drinks.  Plenty
of everything, and lots of good conversation.  Everyone was
boisterous and gabby, so it was hard to get a word in edgewise
sometimes.  Hiro is a little uncertain of his English, so he
had trouble getting to say much.  But I think he had a good
time anyway.

Desmond returned the $20 he borrowed this morning.

Heard that "Tango 2", who left Luperon behind me the first
time I tried to leave, almost had a disaster at Mona Island.
Apparently the entrance is extremely narrow, not more than
a couple of boat-widths, and they hit the reef.  They plowed
a good furrow on it before coming free, and have headed off
to Ponce or somewhere for haul-out and repairs.

Dave was really irritated by a circling jet-ski this afternoon,
to the point where he almost got out the flare-gun.  Hoyt says
Puerto Rico is the jet-ski capital of the world; they love
them here.

"Ilean" and "Fidelis" came straight here from the DR, apparently
not reading the guidebook sections saying you can't clear in to
the country here.  They drove up to Mayaguez and checked in
without mentioning that the boats were at Boqueron.

Hoyt and Lola got up to Mayaguez somehow (maybe hitchhiked),
and then WALKED all the way back, unable to get a ride.  That's
10 miles or so !

"Fidelis" and "Wounded Spirit" are planning to leave tomorrow
morning.  "Fidelis" because he thinks tropical storm Delta is
going to become a hurricane and come here; news to me.
"Wounded Spirit" because Lola is flying out of PR on Tuesday,
so she has to get to some airport.

Chris from "Wandering Albatross" kept marveling "I can't
believe we're finally here !".  They're so happy to be out
of Luperon, getting out of the polluted water and air, and
getting the boat moving again.  And since they don't have
an engine, they were worried that they might NEVER get a
weather-window to get out.  They sailed to Mayaguez straight
from Luperon, with no stops, except for being becalmed at
times in the ocean.  I think they left Sunday morning, and
they arrived Thursday morning; not bad at all in those
light-air conditions.

The couple from "Wandering Albatross" hadn't realized that
the ferry-terminal had been closed when we went ashore this
morning, and Desmond and I had brought the officials back
to it.  They had dinghied ashore and strolled right in and
checked in without realizing they just had perfect
timing, arriving when we had got back with the officials.

"Fidelis" and "Maranatha" told stories of going aground
again and again in various parts of the ICW; they both hated
the experiences they had there.  But they both have drafts
over 6 feet.  I never ran aground in my ICW trips with
my 3.5-foot draft (and a lot of careful, alert navigation).
They gave us a long recitation about the idiocy of some
tow-boat operators, and how "unlimited" towing memberships
really are not "unlimited".  I'm glad I've never found
that out firsthand.  "Maranatha" had USCG or a Customs
boat run them onto a shoal while boarding them, and leave
them there.  "Fidelis" had a tow-boat operator offer to
guide them through a tricky spot, run them aground, try
to force them OVER the shoal, finally tow them off, then
try to bill them for it.

As a British boat, "Maranatha" was boarded repeatedly by
the Coast Guard on their trips in the USA.  I guess
Homeland Security breaks into a sweat any time they see
a non-USA flag, even if it is British.

"Fidelis" said that Judy on "Quest" was boarded by the
USCG crossing the Mona.  She left Luperon with a friend
as crew, but the friend wasn't much of a sailor, and
left the boat at Samana, so Judy crossed alone.  All of
these young USCG guys came aboard to see this 60+ woman
sailing her boat alone across the Mona !

A year or two ago, "Fidelis" was in the ICW in North
Carolina with repeated engine problems and spirits so low
that they came close to selling the boat and giving up
cruising.  Only the fact that they were far from any broker
who would sell a sailboat kept them from doing it.

After "Wounded Spirit" and "Wandering Albatross" left for
the evening, Desmond and Dave were talking about electronic
charting.  They both have lots of software and electronic
charts, and "Maranatha" has a fancy and expensive setup, with
two display stations and RADAR and everything linked together,
plus a different brand of software and charts on a backup laptop.
I almost choked when Desmond said it's very convenient, "the
best $10K I ever spent" !  After a while, I politely said I'd
rather have the $10K.  He had said it was so nice on today's
little trip to just plug in the waypoints and have the
system tell him how to steer.  Well, I didn't say so, but
today's little trip was the simplest piece of navigation you
can imagine, just a couple of well-charted shoals to avoid,
miles of space between the shore and the shoals, water
generally 20 to 40 feet deep, almost a straight-line route the
whole time, great visibility, good weather.  Who needs all that
stuff ?  And I was a computer programmer !  Everyone has
different levels of comfort, I guess.  We did all agree
that it was crazy that "Wounded Spirit" didn't even have an
SSB receiver for getting weather forecasts.  They don't
have refrigeration either, and don't really cook on board.

Back to the boat at 9 PM.


11/25/2005 (Friday)
At anchor in Boqueron PR.

Still, humid, greyish morning.

NOAA forecast says 9-foot NE swells in the Mona the next couple
of days.  Which means they'll probably curve in here, making it
very uncomfortable.

"Fidelis" and "Wounded Spirit" left about 8 AM, heading around
the corner to the south coast.  Talked to "Fidelis", mentioned
the swells, and he said that's why they're leaving.  He didn't
say that last night.  But I don't want to leave yet; I just got
here, and I'm tired of traveling.  There are a couple of coves
I could move into if things got bad, but I'd have to check out
depths first.

Heard "Fidelis" and "Wounded Spirit" on the VHF about 9:15,
and they're not happy.  Even though it's very calm in here,
maybe E5 wind, they're motoring straight into E15+ chop out
there, pretty much as forecast.  And score another for Bruce
Van Sant's guidebook: he says leave early (such as 5 AM) and
get into port before 9 AM or so, and they didn't, and they're
regretting it.

Talked to "Maranatha" about the weather and the swells, and
they may move around the corner tomorrow morning.

Dinghied in to town about 9:45 and walked around.  Nice to
do some walking after five or six days on the boat.  Not
much to "town"; it's mostly liquor stores and bars and
restaurants.  This is a weekend-party beach place that
people come to from Mayaguez and other places.

The basic road-plan is a triangle.  Halfway around, I met
Chris and Mary Liz from "Wandering Albatross", and asked
them if this place was any more exciting from a clockwise
direction than it was from the counter-clockwise direction
(seemed funny at the time).

Wandered down a wooden walk nature trail into the mangroves.
Tried to get into the marina, but it's closed and locked.
Wandered across a pedestrian drawbridge onto the beach.
Only one pretty woman in a bikini, in the water.

Asked about internet access, and was directed to a travel
agency, and Hiro and Desmond were there already.  Did
half an hour of internet, and I'm going to miss Luperon
prices: $6/hour here as opposed to $1.50/hour there.

Bought bread, cheese, milk, bananas.  Headed back out to
the boat.  Lovely fresh bread, had a scrumptious cheese
sandwich for lunch.  Jet-skis and beach starting to heat up,
but afternoon thunderstorm clouds gathering further inland.

Loudspeakers on the beach, giving some warning in Spanish.
Probably was something like "danger of lightning, everyone
out of the water, and for God's sake don't even THINK of
getting on a sailboat !"

Rainshower at 1 PM, but it soon stopped.

Dinghied ashore at 3 and went to the beach.  Nice stroll
in the edge of the water, walking a couple of miles.
Lots of state-run cinderblock cottages here, with people
renting them for the holiday weekend.  Several pretty
women, but they can't compete with the Dominican women.
Walked back to town, and loafed there for a while,
reading my book in the park and people-watching.

Back to boat, and halfway through dinner, Desmond called
to say they and "Wandering Albatross" were going ashore
to a restaurant, inviting me to join.  Too late.

Salad and chili and rum-and-coke for dinner.

Loud nice music from the waterfront bar in the evening.
1/4 mile away is just about the right distance for it.


11/26/2005 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boqueron PR.

Listened to NOAA weather, and 10-foot NE swells "near
the Atlantic passages", which includes the Mona, but
we're not getting anything here, which is a relief.

Heard Chris Parker's weather, and tropical storm Delta
is going away, nothing else is threatening, and wind
should be NE or N 15 for the next few days.  Great
for us here on the SW corner and S coast !

Loosened and tightened engine fuel filter to try to stop
leak.  Emptied diesel jug into fuel tank.

Dinghied ashore and walked to gas station; further than
I remembered it being.  Had to wait 10 minutes; it was
closed because the guy was out on the fuel dock across
the street.  Bought 21.5 liters of diesel for $14.10;
don't quite see how I got more than 20 liters of stuff
in a 5-gallon jug.  Carried it back to the dinghy and
then headed for the beach.  Read and strolled on the
beach until lunchtime; some pretty cute girls today.
Bought bread and headed back to the boat.

Talked to Desmond on the VHF; we'd made noises about
having lunch today, but then the dinghies for "Maranatha"
and "Wandering Albatross" haven't stirred at all today.
Found out why: Desmond says they had a nice dinner and
then went to a karaoke place and stayed until midnight !

Dark clouds and rainshower at 1:45 or so, then cleared.
Had some trouble getting engine to start and keep running,
since I messed with the fuel system this morning.  Bled
it a couple of times and got it going.  Still surges
horribly.  Anchor up at 2:10.  Mainsail up, but there's
about 2 knots of wind.  Motorsailed out and down to Cabo
Rojo, and into the bay on the west side.  Water got
shallow quickly; anchor down in 5 feet of water by 3:40,
at lat 17.56.865 long 67.11.902  Hot; no breeze at all.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwich for dinner.


11/27/2005 (Sunday)
At anchor at Cabo Rojo / Bahia Salinas PR.

Up at 5:15, and tried to depart at 5:30, to go around the
cape and head east before the east wind and seas kick up
around 9 AM.  But the engine quit about 20 seconds
after it started, and wouldn't restart.  Bled the fuel
system, tried several times, eventually got it started
before the batteries were too run down to crank it.
Ran very badly, surging horribly, but kept going for 10
minutes.  So with mainsail up, I tried to leave.  Got
anchor up, motored 100 feet, and engine died.  Put anchor
back down, loosened fuel filter and retightened and bled
system multiple times.  Couldn't get engine started again
for a while.  Got it going, surged horribly, and I gave
up.  Let it run until it quit, and shut everything down
by 6:15.  Will let engine cool down and then take fuel
lift pump off this afternoon.  I'm in a safe but
uninteresting place; wish I'd stayed in Boqueron.

Talked to Desmond on the VHF and told him I had engine
problems.  "Wandering Albatross" might be coming here
this afternoon, and "Maranatha" on Monday afternoon, so
I'll have some company.  Desmond offered to bring parts
from Boqueron if needed, but if something breaks, they
won't have what I need.  And I could get ashore here and
get a lift to Mayaguez or Ponce if I really get stuck.
So it's not a bad situation.

About 10:45, N 20-25 wind suddenly rose up, trying to
blow me out of the anchorage.  Although it's shallow
here and I'm sure my anchor is holding, without a working
engine I felt a little nervous.  So I lowered the second
anchor off the bow, so that it can grab if the primary
starts dragging.

Spent the next 4 hours or so working on the engine.  Took
the fuel lift pump off and disassembled it, but didn't see
anything wrong with it.  Put new pump on anyway.  Then saw
that fitting on output side of the pump had been loose, and
some of the threads were stripped.  Took the fuel pipe off
and filed the threads.  Put it back on, getting the fitting
tightened properly, pumped the pump, and the joint leaked.
Opened it up again and put some teflon tape in there.  A
real pain to get the right amount of tape in; can't get it
on the threads or the fitting won't go on.  Finally got it
in, pumped the pump, and no leak there.  Bled the fuel
system, started the engine, and it ran but surged horribly
as usual.  Ran it for 10 or 15 minutes before it finally
quit.  Fuel leaking from top of fuel filter housing, I think.

"Wandering Albatross" came in at about 3 PM.  Still blowing
fairly hard from the N.

Noticed a blimp hovering a couple of thousand feet up all
afternoon.  Probably a Coast Guard surveillance blimp,
keeping watch on the coast and the Mona Passage.

Salad and chili and rum-and-coke for dinner.  Added teflon
tape to joints on top of fuel filter between dinner courses,
and ran engine again.  Still surges; ran for 10 minutes and
quit.  I'm not going anywhere tomorrow.

Halfway through dinner, "Wandering Albatross" called to invite
me for dinner.  Guess my schedule is out of sync with most
people's schedules.


11/28/2005 (Monday)
At anchor at Cabo Rojo / Bahia Salinas PR.

"Wandering Albatross" gone; they were planning to go around
the corner before dawn.

Worked on the fuel filter housing several times through
the morning, adjusting it and bleeding the system and then
running the engine briefly to see if the surging went away.

Blowing hard from the NE starting at 10:30.

Worked on the fuel lines repeatedly after lunch.  Eventually
took entire filter out and cleaned and repositioned the O-rings,
put it back on, tightened and bled everything, and at 3 PM
engine ran for 15 minutes without surging.  (I'm almost afraid
to write that, for fear of jinxing it.)  I think I had leaks
both in the fittings at the top and in the O-rings.  As well
as the fitting on the fuel lift pump that I fixed yesterday.
But part of the problem is that I'm afraid to really crank down
hard on the fittings when tightening them: if a fitting or
fuel pipe cracks, I'm in big trouble.  A welding shop would
be my best bet at that point.

Looked at auto-pilot briefly.  Lamp is lit, compass card
seems okay, no broken wires in that area.  Turned it on and
let it track the compass for half an hour, and it didn't
freak out.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwich for dinner.

Ran engine for 15 minutes, and it surged badly at one point.
Still has a drip of diesel at the bottom of the fuel filter.


11/29/2005 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Cabo Rojo / Bahia Salinas PR.

Up in the dark at 5:15, and anchor up by 5:30.  Engine surged
a bit after starting, but settled down and was no worse than
it was coming out of Luperon.  Still, it was an anxious trip,
motor-sailing around Cabo Rojo; if the engine had quit, wind
and swells would have pushed me toward Colombia.  Motored on,
straight into gentle swells, and getting a little angle on the
wind.  Heard "Fidelis" on the VHF, near Guayanilla, probably
coming out.

Engine kept going and going, and I made it up to La Parguera !
A slightly tricky entrance, watching for some nasty reefs,
and one of the guidebooks had a bad waypoint.  Got inside,
and then the channel markers inside suddenly stopped,
but between the two guidebooks I was using, it wasn't too bad.
Saw and talked to "Wandering Albatross", then talked to
"Maranatha"; I think "Maranatha" is about 90 minutes behind me.
Passed "Wandering Albatross", then realized I'd miscounted
the small islands, and made a U-turn and anchored near them.
Done about 8:35, at lat 17.58.223 long 67.03.071

Looks like a nice town and good anchorage: plenty of options
for hiding behind islands and such, lots of 10 to 20-foot
water.

"Maranatha" came in about 9:45.  Around 10, we all headed
ashore.  If "Wandering Albatross" hadn't guided us to the
dinghy dock, we never would have found it.  It's a tiny
concrete landing far down between two long docks, not at
all like the description in the guidebook.  Really nice
waterfront here, with colorful houses and docks built
out over the water.  And right in from the dinghy dock
is a paved outdoor park with some nice metal sculptures
in it.

Walked into town, and within two blocks we arrived at a
small outdoor shopping mall designed to have everything
a cruiser could want: post office, supermarket, terrific
book-exchange, bar/restaurant with free fast internet if
you buy something, laundromat, etc.  Really nice.  I
exchanged a bunch of books, then bought a soda and did
email for more than 90 minutes.  Desmond and Hiro were
groaning that they did $20 worth of slow internet in
Boqueron yesterday.  And they stayed an extra day or two
waiting for the internet place to be open; it was closed
on the weekend.

Walked through part of the rest of town, and it's kind
of dead.  It looks like a weekend-party town, like
Boqueron.  Desmond said there were about 6 people on the
beach in Boqueron yesterday, Monday.

Back to the boat for lunch and a nap.  Guess getting up
early and travelling took a lot out of me.

Dinghied ashore about 3:30 and took the laptop to the
mall to do internet.  Took a while to get connected;
they have WiFi but require you to set lots of networking
paramaters manually.  Did several hours of internet,
catching up on email and getting rid of 1100 spam
messages, and doing a bunch of tasks that have piled up.

Finally caught up with my friend Lee from "Santana".
I sent him email saying "where are you ?".  Almost
immediately, he mailed back that his boat was in Salinas,
but he had driven down to La Parguera today.  I mailed
back "hey, I'm in the mall there right now, maybe we
can get together, where in town are you ?".  Several
minutes later, he mailed back "turn around and look
behind you" !  He'd come in 20 minutes earlier and
walked right past me.  I don't know if he recognized me
right away, but I glanced and certainly didn't
recognize him.  I only met him for a couple of weeks
four years ago in Marathon, and we weren't good buddies
even then.

So we chatted for a while, and I bought a hamburger to
pay for my internet use (worked out to about $1 per hour).

Turns out Lee spent 2 years in Luperon; I had had enough
of that place after 4 months.  He met more locals and did
a little more travelling than I did, but didn't even buy
a scooter there.  We chatted about people there and how
the place has changed since he left.  Then he came to
Puerto Rico, and spent about 6 months in this little
Boqueron - Cabo Rojo - La Parguera area, although he did
buy a scooter here and travel a lot.  He had to spend
more than a month in Puerto Real having his engine rebuilt.
Still, at one point he anchored for 2 or 3 months at
Boqueron; it's such a tiny town that I just can't imagine
doing that.  But I guess his style is quite different from
mine; he really gets to know the locals well.

He said there are some pretty strange locals here.  One
guy is building a UFO landing strip.  There's a whole
group who says they have been adbucted by UFO's; he says
one woman looks like a UFO, not an abductee.  And there
was talk about a ghost of someone's dead sister haunting
a bridge or something, but that petered out when the guy
couldn't figure out a way to make money from it.

When he first mentioned UFO landing strip, I thought he
was referring to that Coast Guard surveillance blimp; it
is based at the west end of town.  As I dinghied back to
the boat later, I saw it taking off, and it looked kind
of eerie at night, plain white and silent and lit from
below.

I told him I was planning to leave the boat at Salinas
over Christmas, and he tried to discourage that.  He says
Salinas is not very attractive, with something of a divide
between locals and cruisers, a long hike to the publico
stop, a library not as good as the one here in La Parguera
(which I haven't seen yet).  And he repeated that there's
no easy transportation between Salinas and San Juan (where
my flight leaves from), which I still find hard to believe;
a major highway goes straight from one to the other.  He
suggested leaving the boat in the mangroves here at La
Parguera, but I think that would just make transportation
even harder; San Juan is completely diagonally across the
country from here.

We talked about my fuel system problem.  He says since the
fuel leaks I see (around the secondary fuel filter) are in
a pressurized area (downstream of the lift pump), he doesn't
think air would be getting in at that point while the engine
is running.  So maybe I have a fuel leak outward there, and
an air leak inward at the primary filters ?  I'm reluctant
to mess with it now, since it seems to be running well enough
to get me to Salinas.

Got back to the boat around 8 PM.  "Wandering Albatross" is
still here; they had been making noises about leaving today.


11/30/2005 (Wednesday)
At anchor at La Parguera PR.

Hey, American Forces shortwave radio is back on the air !
Their Key West transmitter has been down since hurricane
Wilma hit over a month ago.  I can hear some NPR stuff again.

And it's the official end of hurricane season, although
tropical storm Epsilon is out in the Atlantic, forecast
to become a weak hurricane, although not to threaten us.
Somehow no storms threatened this Puerto Rico / Hispaniola
area this year.  Doubt our luck can hold next year, which
is supposed to be just as active.

"Wandering Albatross" leaving about 9:15, but just as they're
getting sails up, it seems the breeze is dying.

Dinghied ashore about 10:30, heading for library, but got
detoured into chatting with John and Bobbi on a nameless
sailboat, somewhat like a Folkboat they said.  They agree
completely with Lee: I shouldn't go to Salinas, I should
stay here and get a ride to San Juan airport from here.
They all say that Salinas is a pit; nothing like the
convenient yachting center portrayed in Van Sant's book.
And the sailmaker there has closed down.
We chatted about Luperon and our various travels; Bobbi
has done a lot of canal-boating in Europe, John has
sailed all over the world, maybe circumnavigated.
They said the pretty yawl anchored further out is a
semi-famous old boat, "Mahjongg", built in the 50's,
did the Bermuda races.

Went ashore and to the library.  With help of a couple of
the guys there, got phone number and some idea of what
it will take to get to San Juan.  At 6 AM, near library,
have to catch a car or publico to the central market in
Lajas, a town inland from here.  There, at 8 AM to make
a 2 PM flight, a reserved car will pick me up and take
me to San Juan for $35.  Seems reasonable; I'll have to
do a small test trip to check it out.  And my flight
isn't until 3:30, so maybe I can adjust the times a bit.

Back to the boat for lunch.  Took a swim around and under
the boat, right away saw a 2-foot grouper-type fish
hanging around under my boat.  Scraped the prop and hull
a little; everything still very clean.  Visibility 15 to
20 feet, but couldn't really see the bottom; maybe it's
kind of featureless.  Water is clean and warm.

Dinghied ashore.  Got 10 gallons of water.  Took laptop
to restaurant and did a long session of internet.  Heard
some guys talking about cars to San Juan, asked them,
and got a name and phone number to call from them.  Desmond
and Hiro were there, and later the couple from "Neshuma"
appeared and I chatted with them.  They said "Raven" had
trouble in Samana: they "washed up on the beach" and got
a small hole in their hull, but fixed it with 5200 and
a small piece of plywood.  I wonder if the wind blew west
on them as it did on us there, and they dragged up onto Cayo
Leventado ?

Poured rain around 4:30, but my timing was good.  Rain tapered
off as I went into the supermarket.  Nice to be back in
a real supermarket, and prices seemed like typical USA
prices.  No rain when I came out, so got back to boat okay.

Salad and chili for dinner.


12/1/2005 (Thursday)
At anchor at La Parguera PR.

Dinghied all along the waterfront, finding the boatyard
(doesn't look too impressive), looking for the dock with
iguanas on it (didn't see any), but mostly scouting out
sheltered places to anchor the boat over Christmas.  The
good places close to town all have boats or moorings in
them, but there are a couple of good places not too far
away.

Dinghied in to town.  Tried to call a guy about a ride
to San Juan, but the payphone didn't like the "1" I dialed
in front of his number, and then ate my coins.  Went to
the mall and did some book-exchange, then a long internet
session.  "Maranatha" told me some bad news: they have a
rat on board !  They saw droppings this morning in the
cockpit and in the dinghy, and figure it was hiding in the
dinghy when they went back to the boat yesterday evening.
So now they have to trap it quickly before it starts
chewing on wires and hoses and such.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner; first
time I've used the stern grill in about 9 months.


12/2/2005 (Friday)
At anchor at La Parguera PR.

Desmond and Hiro from "Maranatha" came past in their dinghy,
and I invited them aboard for a tour and a chat.  They were
impressed with how big my boat and my engine compartment are,
but I was embarrassed by how dirty and untidy the boat is,
especially compared to theirs, which is gorgeous.  They told
me their rat-trap did the job last night; the rat sneaked
off the cheese-bait they used first, but then they used
a piece of ham, and the trap got him.

Dinghied ashore after lunch.  Chatted with guy from library
in the park/square; I thought the town would get lively on
the weekend, but he says no.  Tried again to call guy about
ride to airport, but got some kind of busy signal.  Did a
long internet session at the restaurant.

Chili and rum-and-coke for dinner.


12/3/2005 (Saturday)
At anchor at La Parguera PR.

Did a small bucket of laundry.

Dinghied ashore after lunch.  Finally got through to guy
who drives a car to San Juan, and it's not good.  He leaves
here at 4 AM (no flexibility), and will pick up in San Juan
only if I pay to fill whole car ($150).  On to plan B.

Did internet in restaurant.  Desmond says town was a bit
more lively last night; I guess it comes to life at 8 PM on
weekends.  He's pricing autopilots for "Maranatha"; he
doesn't seem to blink at a $3700 price tag.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwich for dinner.


12/4/2005 (Sunday)
At anchor at La Parguera PR.

Forgot to try to listen to Car Talk at 5 AM.

Did a small bucket of laundry.

Dinghied ashore and did a long session of internet.  Asked
some more people about transport to San Juan, but no luck.

Back to boat late, and dodging rain.  Boat is all warm and
humid, and I can't open it up to get air through.
Peanut-butter crackers for dinner.


12/5/2005 (Monday)
At anchor at La Parguera PR.

Didn't get much sleep, and made a midnight decision: better
to give up on transportation to airport from here, and move
the boat to Salinas as I originally planned.

So, at dawn, checked engine fluids, bled the fuel system,
and got boat moving around 6:45.  Motor-sailed out, hoping
the engine wouldn't quit near the reefs.  Swells right on
the nose for the first half, and on the starboard quarter
for the second half.  Had toyed with the idea of keeping
going to Ensenada, but the swells and the weather forecast
made me stop at Celeta Salinas / Playa Santa as planned.
Anchored by 8:20 at lat 17.56.235 long 66.57.448
Nice shallow anchorage but a bit rolly.  And I'm a bit
tired and headachey.

"Maranatha" went by about 9:15, heading further east
to Ensenada.  They both have colds or something, so none
of us are feeling 100%.

Slept a bit during the day.  Unusual that I can do that.

Have been reading Shelby Foote's "The Civil War", and I
laughed out loud when I read this:  Confederate general
Earl Van Dorn joined forces in the Boston Mountains in SE
Arkansas, and was given the 40-gun salute due a Major
General.  12 miles to the north, the Union general Samuel
R. Curtis heard the 40 cannon firings, and said "hmmm,
a Major General arriving, they must be getting ready to
do something".  So he consolidated his forces and got
ready for the attack, which did come !

Tightened fan belt and added water to the batteries.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.


12/6/2005 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Celeta Salinas / Playa Santa.

Up at 2:35 AM, boat moving by 2:55.  A bit more swell out
there than I hoped, but not bad at all.

Motor-sailed along the coast, keeping my distance and
hoping the engine wouldn't quit.  It surged every now and
then, but not too badly.

Until about 5 miles out from Ponce.  Then it started
surging quite badly.  I emptied the 5-gallon jug of
diesel into the tank, and that fixed it.  Still a little
minor surge every now and then, but ran well.

Into Ponce and finished anchoring at 7:45, at
lat 17.57.954 long 66.37.027.  The anchorage
is tight and the water is 30 feet deep, so it's not a very
comfortable situation.  I'm a little close to a powerboat
"Marlene" on one side.  Will have to wait for normal trade
wind to set in this morning to see if all ends up okay.

"Maker's Match" is here, but they're leaving this morning
for Salinas.  "Wounded Spirit" and "Fidelis" are here.
"Wandering Albatross" left at 3 AM this morning, headed to
Salinas.

Heard from "Maranatha"; they said Ensenada is nice, and
they just arrived at "Gilligan's Island" (Cayos de Cana Gorda).
They'll be here in a couple of days.

Hoyt from "Wounded Spirit" came by for a brief chat.  He's
showing proof of insurance to the yard here so he can get
hauled.  He has an aluminum hull, and some electrical problem
that results in full battery potential between hull and ground.
It pitted the hull and cost him $16K to have repaired a few
years ago.  He's worried that the hull may be pitted again.

He gave me some local info, about getting ashore and going to
the stores.  And he'll be in Salinas over Christmas, so he can
keep an eye on my boat as well as several others.  He says best
way to get from Salinas to San Juan is to pay for another
cruiser to rent a car (about $32), and have them drive me to
San Juan, then they get use of the car for the rest of the day.

We exchanged a couple of books, and he gave me some oranges.
He bought so many that his stomach is aching from eating them.

I wondered if "Raven" was coming here to haul out after their
"washing up on the beach" in Samana, and he told me what he
knew about it.  Sounds like they may still be in Samana.
He says their anchor shackle broke when a squall blew through,
and they "had no power" (I guess that means the batteries were
dead or the engine wouldn't start).  He thinks they were in
the town harbor at the time, and hit rocks, not a beach.
Dwight from "Stephanie Lynn" negotiated a salvage deal for
some local tower to pull them off, and it ended up costing
them $7K !  They patched the hull temporarily, and I thought
they might be coming here for repairs, but Hoyt hasn't seen
them.

Tried to sleep a bit, but couldn't.

After lunch, dinghied ashore, taking my grocery-trolley with
me.  Had to get buzzed through a security gate to get out
of a boat club.  We're sort of in the middle
of nowhere, far out from the center of town.  And we're next
to a huge parking lot for a beach/park, with an industrial park
beyond the parking lot.  Managed to find the case-lot
warehouse store I'd heard about, but they didn't have a lot
of the things I wanted.  And checking out was an ordeal, with
a woman with tons of stuff in front of me.  Then my credit
card failed (expired 6 days ago, new one is in NJ), my ATM
card didn't work (I always forget the last digit of the PIN),
and finally I had to pay cash (I don't have much of that).
Kicking myself for not getting cash in La Parguera, which
had at least three ATM's in such a small town.  Had to get
buzzed back through the security gate to get back to the
dinghy.  Tired and headachey, and it's blowing hard, with
me less than a boat-length in front of "Wounded Spirit".
So I probably should raise anchor and move tonight when the
wind dies down.

"Neshuma" called from the fuel dock; he's leaving for Tortola.
I don't understand people's weather planning; the guides say
leave in early morning and arrive before 9, to avoid the
daily wind kicking up.  But "Maker's Match" left at about 9 AM
for a 3-hour trip to Salinas, and now "Neshuma" is leaving
in late afternoon.  Too rough out there for me.

Dinghied to the fuel dock.  Prices aren't as good as I hoped;
$2.75/gallon for diesel.  But they say they will take an ATM
card.  Didn't try to get my jug filled because the guy was
anxious to leave for the day.

Head aching badly in the evening.  Salad and peanut-butter
crackers for dinner.

At midnight, loud music started up.  I'd been fearing this;
there's a malecon (boardwalk) along one side of the anchorage,
full of small stalls that supposedly blare out loud music in
competition with each other.  But they've all been closed
tonight, either because it's mid-week or because it's winter.

But the incredibly loud music stopped after 10 minutes.  I
think it was coming from a car, not from a stall.


12/7/2005 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Rested but still a bit headachey this morning.

Hoyt on "Wounded Spirit" was scheduled to haul out at 7 this
morning, so I launched the dinghy and went to help.  Dave
from "Fidelis" went on board with Hoyt.  They struggled a
bit to get the anchor up, and I had to push to keep their boat
off mine.  Then I found there was no one at the lift.  So I
picked Dave up from "Wounded Spirit" on the fly, shuttled him
to his dinghy, and he went ashore to ask.  "Maranatha" came
in and anchored.  Eventually Dave was back, I took him out to
"Wounded Spirit", and we all headed for the lift.  Things went
well there; I only had to nudge him a little to keep his side
from scraping.  Took Dave back to his boat.

Slept for a while.  Dinghied in to the fuel dock about 10,
seeing Desmond and Hiro there.  But they were talking to some
cops, who turned out to be Customs.  One cop asked me some
questions, but since I'm a US citizen, US boat, with current
Customs decal, that was the end of it.  I think Desmond and
Hiro may have to go to some office.

Exchanged a couple of books in the book-exchange.  After lots
of wandering and two tries, got someone to come to the fuel dock.
Got 5 gallons of diesel, but my ATM card wouldn't work (with
PIN number tried two ways), and credit card wouldn't work even
with new expiration date.  Very bad news !  Only $43 cash left
and no working cards.  Will have to start making some phone
calls to re-activate my cards.

Back to the boat, and rooted through my financial records to
copy down phone numbers, account numbers, etc.  Turns out I
had the ATM PIN right the first time.  Back ashore,
just in time for it to start pouring rain; sheltered under
a restaurant roof.  Several payphones in the marina, but most
are empty shells.  Found one that worked, and dialing 800
numbers from it worked !  Another hurdle passed.  Called my
bank, and while they had me on hold, it started raining again,
and I huddled along the side of the phone for some shelter.
The bank said "you know this is an ATM card, not a debit card",
which confused me; it's worked in supermarkets and such for me.
Then they said they have no record of attempted authorizations
yesterday and today, which means maybe the card itself is
damaged, or something else is wrong.  But they deactivated and
reactivated it.

Called the credit card company, and that was easier; I know the
problem is an expired card, and the new one is waiting in NJ.
So they activated it.  Now the problem is to find a place that
will accept an expired card and manually type in the new info.
The fuel dock here will do it, but probably not many other places.

Saw Dave and Hoyt.  Good news: Hoyt's hull is not pitted.  So he's
in the yard for a week, having some new copper-and-tin paint
applied to his aluminum hull.  He says 2 out of his 3 credit cards
have stopped working; he left to use the same payphone I just used.

Desmond and Hiro came back by dinghy.  Turns out they'd had to go
to a Customs building around the corner.  And the officials here
said the officials in Mayaguez had been all wrong.  Desmond and
Hiro were supposed to get visas before entering the country, not
after, and could have been penalized hundreds of dollars for that.
After lots of consultation with officials in San Juan and Mayaguez,
the net effect was that their permit for Puerto Rico is cut down
from a year to another month from now.  Since they were planning
to leave about then anyway, they don't seem upset by that.  But
they were a bit upset by officials first saying that they were here
illegally.

They didn't call Customs; the officials must check the anchorage
here periodically, and when they saw a non-US flag, they hailed
the boat from the fuel dock.

After lunch, saw "Fidelis" raising anchor to go in for haul-out.
It's blowing 20-25, and Dave was working hard to get the anchor
up in this deep water.  Hoyt was alongside in the dinghy to
escort them in, so I didn't volunteer.  My headache is bad again
too; just want to get rid of it.

Blew 25-30 from 2 to 3 or so, and I think my anchor dragged 5 or 10
feet.  "Maranatha" raised anchor and re-anchored.  Wish the water
wasn't so deep here.

Chili for dinner.

Loud music started at 7 PM or so; I think there's some kind of
festival or event going on in the big park / parking lot nearby.
Kept going until after 11 or so; not sure when.


12/8/2005 (Thursday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Feeling pretty good; headache mostly gone.

Up on deck around 7, trying to decide if I should re-anchor to
move a little further from a concrete dock with tire-fenders on
it, because the afternoon wind swings me toward it a bit.
Decided not to move, mostly because there's so little room here,
I could only move 50 feet anyway.  And maybe the anchor is dug
in well now, after the strong wind yesterday.  The weather
forecast is confusing, but sounds like I shouldn't leave until
Monday morning.  Most weather forecasts say E to NE 25-30 wind
with seas 7 to 13 feet for the next several days, but the
VHF near-shore forecast for this area is more like E 15 with
seas 5 to 6 feet.

Popped my head up about 7:15 and saw Customs guys whistling and
waving to me from the fuel dock.  So I launched the dinghy and
went to them, expecting they wanted me to rouse "Maranatha".
But they wanted to talk to me, just to ask again if I'd checked
in properly and so on.  I offered to fetch my papers, but they
lost interest and said I could go.  Then we chatted and joked
for a while.  The big blue sailboat "Voyager" docked nearby is
owned by Geraldo Rivera, and he had it brought it in from the USVI
without clearing in properly, and they hit him with a big fine.
They asked if I was retired, and if I had a pension, and so on.
Somehow we started talking about wives and women and
so on, and one of them told a joke, and then I told a joke which
was a big hit:  "women are like hurricanes: they're warm and wet
and when they leave they take EVERYTHING with them !"

Dinghied ashore a little after 9, with the guys from "Maranatha",
and happened to meet Hoyt in the parking lot.  We all walked out
and up the road to the shopping mall, a solid 3-mile trek along
highways.  Nice to have company while walking.  Hoyt said he
called his bank about one of his non-working credit cards, and
was told that someone closed the account and they'll get back
to him about where the check for the positive balance was sent to !

We went to a bank and had an ATM-party, three of us using it.
I was relieved when my ATM card worked and the machine spit
out $300.  Reminded me of a joke:
	What are sweetest three words in the English language ?
	"Please take cash"

We went across the street into a fancy shopping mall, and looked
around for a while.  Desmond and Hiro went off to stay for a
while and do some shopping, but Hoyt was heading right back to
the marina.  I probably should have sat and rested and maybe
had a meal, and it certainly was nice to see some pretty women,
but I headed right back with Hoyt.  Nice chat on the way back,
about politics and war and such, but Hoyt talks at 90 miles an
hour and has very firm and often strange opinions, so it was
interesting.  Sat at the edge of the anchorage and watched
several dozen huge tarpon swimming around and snapping up
crumbs that people threw to them.  Then out to the boat.
My legs are tired from walking 6 miles in flip-flops.

Loafed all afternoon.  Talked to "Maranatha" about taking a
taxi to the airport tomorrow to rent a car for the day, to see
the town and do some provisioning.

Wind blowing more from the ENE this afternoon, so I'm glad I
didn't raise anchor and move; I would have put myself in a
worse position for that wind.  Watched a moored powerboat
swing extremely close to "Voyager" at dock; I think its mooring
is dragging.  Eventually a couple of people came out and tried
to deal with it, but all they did was pull the powerboat tighter
to its mooring, which will make it drag even worse eventually.

Salad and chicken-salad sandwich and rum-and-coke for dinner.

Loud music from 7 to after midnight, but it was so continuous
and garbled that it really didn't interfere with sleep much.


12/9/2005 (Friday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Cloudy morning.  Desmond called around 7:30 to say he was
sick and had to cancel out on the plan to rent a car today.
He sounded terrible.

Not five minutes later, I saw the Customs guys on the fuel
dock AGAIN, calling out to wake us up.  I ducked down and
ignored them, deciding to make them find a radio or a boat
if they wanted to talk to me again; I didn't feel like
launching my dinghy at 7:30.  And I think they wanted
"Maranatha" anyway.  A few minutes later, I saw poor Desmond
in his dinghy going to meet them.  They talked for a minute
or so and then Desmond was back to his boat, so it must have
been something simple.

Cloudy and windy all day.  Loafed on the boat, reading and
listening to the radio.  Really should stir myself to work
on the outboard and the auto-pilot, but I'm lazy.

Sailboat "High Life" came in about 4 PM, and neither he
nor I could raise the marina on the radio.  He finally went
in to the fuel dock, and ended up spending the night there.

Salad and sausage-onion-noodle for dinner.


12/10/2005 (Saturday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Very cloudy again this morning.  Weather forecast sounds like
I might be able to leave for Salinas on Monday morning.

Talked to "Maranatha", and today Desmond's feeling better but
Hiro's sick in bed.  So they're not going to rent a car today.

But: around 9:15, they called back to say Hiro was feeling a
bit better, and let's go !  So we went ashore before 10:15 and
met a taxi that Desmond had called.  $15 for three of us out
to the airport.  To Budget car rental, where a $32/day rate had
a $15/day insurance fee added onto it.

Off to the warehouse store I went to before, making only one or
two wrong turns.  Lots of traffic on a shopping Saturday two
weeks before Christmas.  They had the cutest elf I've seen:
she was tall and lean and shapely and wearing green Spandex.
I bought a shopping-cart-load of soda and juice and canned goods
for about $70.  Desmond and Hiro managed to spend over $400 !
I didn't see how they did it, it didn't look like they had that
much stuff, but part of it was a $100 case of rum.  Back to the
dinghy dock, where we filled the dinghies with our loot.  Rough
out at the boat; an adventure to heave everything aboard while
boat and dinghy are gyrating in different directions.

"Fidelis" is back out at anchor !  They got in and out of the
boatyard in less than 48 hours.

Back ashore, and off to the mall we walked to a couple of days
ago.  It's a mob scene today, the parking lots very full.  Many
pretty women to look at.  A nice lunch in the food court, some
clothing shopping by the other guys while I enjoyed the passing
scenery, then off to the supermarket across the street.  There
I spent $138 and they spent $109; we're doing our part for the
economy today !  A little frustrating to be in such a nice
supermarket and with a rental car, but unable to buy perishable
things because I'm going to be turning off the refrigerator in
a week and leaving the boat for a while.

My ATM card didn't work at the supermarket, but I got $220
in the ATM outside.  I guess it only works in ATMs now, despite
having worked in supermarkets for years previously; the bank
must have changed something, or maybe Puerto Rico is different.
Back to the dinghy dock.

Put groceries away, and several times was surprised to find I
already had extra of things I'd just bought.  Went to put away
shampoo, found a spare bottle I didn't remember, etc.

Chatted with "Fidelis", and they indeed got their haul-out and
bottom-job done in less than 48 hours.  Hoyt is still in the
yard; his special epoxy-copper-tin paint for his aluminum hull
is fine, but some epoxy filler didn't "cure" as it was supposed to.

Around 4:30, back ashore with Desmond and Hiro, and off into
town.  Kind of surprising: we turned from a major north-south
highway onto what the map portrayed as a major east-west
highway into town, and it was a dinky little street.  But it
was the right street, and in a few blocks we were in historic
downtown Ponce.  We parked and walked down to the central square,
then up a pedestrian mall that was big on discount stores and
shoe stores, for some reason.  Lots of pretty women.  Walked
a few blocks up and down, then around the square, seeing a
wedding party coming out of the cathedral.  Part of their
escort was a motorcycle riding club, 6 or 8 bikes with
everyone in bright red uniforms.

We noticed a heavy police presence, officers on foot and on
bikes, weapons clearly visible.  At first, I thought maybe
it was related to the wedding or something.  But as we walked
through town some more, at least within a few blocks of the
center, we saw more and more police, walking and in cars.
Amazing how pervasive they were.

We stopped for a soda, the walked past the cathedral (seeing
another wedding party going in).  Then down to an "urban park"
that was quite nice: they tore down an old building but left some
of the first-floor remnants in place, then built a gazebo inside
and planted interesting plants and trees.

We thought of a restaurant, but we weren't very hungry and
there wasn't anywhere interesting at hand.  We watched the
pretty Christmas lights come on in all the trees in the
central square.  I noticed a sign at the trolley stop that
said "Chu Chu Tren"; very strange.

We drove up the hillside to a large cross and a "castle",
both covered with lights for Christmas.  More police in both
places.  At least one wedding reception starting up in the
"castle", which is a large former manor house.  Stunning
views over the city and out into the Caribbean.  We couldn't
quite see our boats; I think the commercial docks and the
distance were hiding them a bit.

We decided to try for one more round of consumerism; there's
supposed to be a Walmart somewhere.  We drove a bit east and
then stopped at a corner bar/arcade to ask directions.
Immediately hit a snag: there are TWO Walmart's, which do we
want ?  Got simple and clear directions that made it sound
like we were a mile from it.  Followed the directions and
drove and drove way north until we gave up.  Turned west,
then south, then west, and found ourselves forced back into
downtown.  Clawed our way out, asked at a gas station, and
again got simple directions that said we were a couple of
minutes from it.  Drove 15 minutes or more, had just decided
to give up and go home, and there was a huge Walmart supercenter.

Into the parking lot, which was not a straight shot, and the
place is humming.  Inside, and the prices were great.  I bought
lots of provisions, while Desmond and Hiro were getting some
specific items they needed: padlocks, wire, etc.  I felt limited
by the fact that everything had to fit in a dinghy with us:
they'd given me a ride ashore this time.  Into a checkout line,
and it turned into a disaster: the woman in front of us had
some problem with her credit card, and she and two clerks spent
15 minutes on the phone trying to straighten it out.

Finally got going, my bill was $45, and my ATM card worked.
Out of there, back to the anchorage, and lots of people feeding
sardines to the huge tarpon gawked at us idiots as we walked
out onto the finger dock carrying all these bags, got in our
dinghy, and motored away.  Back to boat around 8:15.  We're all
tired from non-stop walking and shopping.

So, we did a lot of provisioning, some sightseeing, but didn't
get into any of the museums in downtown Ponce.


12/11/2005 (Sunday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Managed to get through to the Yacht Club on the radio; not easy,
since they don't react well to English.  Got someone to appear
on the fuel dock, and bought 26 gallons of diesel for $72, using
jugs and making three trips in the dinghy.  Dave on "Fidelis"
saw that I had rousted someone, and went in and bought fuel too.
And I took some bottles of soda over to "Fidelis"; they'd asked
me to buy some for them at Walmart.  Also went in and used the
book-exchange.

Sky turned very grey and a squall came through just as I made
it back aboard after finishing everything.  30 minutes later,
the sun was peeking out again.

Dinghied ashore and joined Dave and Annie from "Fidelis", and
we looked and then waited for a trolley to appear.  We saw one
parked here yesterday, and someone said they run on weekends.
But we sat and chatted for 90 minutes or so and then gave up;
no trolley.  Back to the boat for lunch.

Still fairly windy today; maybe the swells won't lay down
enough for me to leave tomorrow morning.

"High Life" is still docked at the fuel dock; I guess he's
paying for a slip and staying there.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.  Made a
rum-and-coke and dinghied ashore with it, and walked the
boardwalk and checked out the "concert" area, and went up
to the top of the tower.  Lots of people, some pretty women,
and a pleasant place.


12/12/2005 (Monday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Around 8, dinghied past the commercial docks and across a slice
of the harbor to the Customs building.  Had to leave the dinghy
on a steep beach with a rough surf running.  Into Customs to get
my decal for next year ($25), and had to wait 15 minutes because
none of the 3 or 4 officers there could do it, they had to call
another officer from the airport to do it.  Back to the dinghy,
and as I expected, it was half-full of sandy water.  A struggle
to yank it off the beach and head out, bailing as I went.  Will
have to wash it out tonight after I hoist it.

Planning to leave tomorrow morning for Salinas.  Weather forecast
is not ideal, wind about 5 knots stronger than I'd like and swells
about 3 feet higher, but the best it will be all week, I think.

About 10, talked to the other boats, but they're all doing chores
today.  So I dinghied ashore and walked 3 miles to the university.
Did 45 minutes of internet in a freezing-cold computer room.  Got
a quote for a new genoa, $2000 !  Can't believe it's that expensive;
it's very big but a very simple sail, nothing fancy at all.  Then
they suddenly said "we're closing the lab, sorry" at 11:45.  Went to
supermarket and bought lunch, a delicious hot Cuban sandwich.
To the mall, to sit for a while, reading my book and admiring the
pretty women.  Back to the supermarket, bought $19 of light
groceries, and walked 3 miles back to the dinghy.  Back to the boat
about 3:15, just in time to see Hoyt coming out of the boatyard and
back onto anchor.

Later, dinghied in to the marina and exchanged a couple more books.

Hoisted the dinghy and washed the sand out of it with about 30 buckets
of water.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

No loud music tonight; the concert series is over.


12/13/2005 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Ponce.

Up at 3:45, added water to batteries, checked engine oil, bled air
out of fuel filter, got ready to go.  Engine surged a bit for
5 minutes or so, then settled down.  Hauled anchor up from 30 feet
of water.  Moving by 4:15.  Talked briefly to tug and barge heading
in, just to make sure I knew what they were doing.

Lovely conditions outside, just a bit of swell from the SE.
Engine ran without a hiccup.  A bit nervous going past Coffin
Island, not because of the name, but because from shore I'd seen
a small island near it that wasn't on my charts.  Used the RADAR
to look for it, but I think I was past it before I knew where
it was.  Hard to tell in the dark and with clutter on the RADAR.

Swell got a little bigger in the second half of the trip, but
really no problem.  A small Coast Guard boat zoomed up behind me
just before dawn and shined a spotlight on me for 15 seconds,
then decided I wasn't worth messing with.  I guess a white guy
going 5 knots doesn't fit any profiles.

Into Salinas about 8:45, and finished putting down two anchors
by 9 AM, at lat 17.57.414 long 66.17.520   Very nice harbor, lots
of boats here but still plenty of room, and nice shallow water to
anchor in.  Immediately saw several boats I know: "Maker's Match",
"Quest", "Santana", and two rafted together that I think I saw in
Marsh Harbour.  There's a sunken sailboat near the middle, and a
sunken powerboat near a dock.  Pretty quiet at 9 AM.

Loafed, took a shower, had lunch.  Heard "Maranatha" talking to
"Raven" in the distance; sounds like "Raven" is approaching Ponce
and "Maranatha" is near Coffin Island on their way here.  "Raven"
was trying to reach "Makai" too; don't know where they are.

Dinghied ashore.  Hooked up with a nice couple from "Excalibur",
and we went to the internet cafe, which is a new for-cruisers
bar / restaurant / internet place.  Immediately ran into
Judy from "Quest" there, and we chatted for a while.  The first
thing I'm asking everyone is "how to get to San Juan airport".
At first Judy said her flight out was on Sunday, and mine is on
Monday, but then she said hers is on Monday.  Asked the guys at
the next table, from "Shandara", and there's a small chance one of
them might fly out then, too.  So we might get a carfull together.
Good thing, since the commercial van person apparently charges
$90/person for the trip, which is exorbitant.  It's about 40 miles,
all on highways.

Walked up along the shore in Playa Salinas, which is just a small
village outside the marina; just a few restaurants and bars, one
or two small groceries, a closed-looking bakery, and a lot of houses.
The houses are an interesting mix of nice and not-so-nice; some
are painted beautiful Caribbean colors, and others are neglected.
Tried to walk to the town of Salinas, but gave up after more than
1.5 miles, figuring I must have made a wrong turn.  At least it was
an interesting, scenic walk, with lots of interesting houses and
a park.  Not like the highway walk to the shopping mall in Ponce.
Walked back to the marina, chatted with the people I met earlier,
and we figured I probably turned back 1/2 mile short of the edge
of town.

Chatted with them about boats and trips.  "Excalibur" just came
up from Venezuela in a 4-day passage.  They're a Hunter 43.3;
the boat used to have a 67-foot mast, then the first owner cut
4 feet off so it could fit under 65-foot bridges on the ICW, then
the next owner cut another 20 feet (!) off so it could fit under
a 46-foot bridge on the St John's river.  "Shandara" came down from
the Chesapeake fairly recently, and their engine died a day or
two after they started, so they had a long, slow, anxious trip.
I asked about renting a bike, instead of trying my pile-of-rust
bike, and right away the guy from "Shandara" led me to his nice
bike and told me the combination and told me to use it any time !
Very nice, but I'm exhausted today.

Back out to the boat at about 3:30.  No sign of "Maranatha"; hope
they didn't break down.  Managed to raise them on the VHF, and
turns out they've stopped at Coffin Island for a day or two.
Can't imagine why anyone would stay more than one night there;
I don't think you can go ashore, there's no beach or buildings, etc.

Salad and chicken-onion-rice and rum-and-coke for dinner.

Slept like a log.  Almost no breeze, and I had to put the screens
up for almost the first time in Puerto Rico; the lack of bugs here
has been really nice.  Maybe the bugs are less because it's winter,
or because I've been anchoring a bit far from vegetation in most
places, as opposed to the situation in Luperon.  It's been nice and
cool at night, too; I usually have to use a blanket after 2 AM or so.


12/14/2005 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Salinas.

"Maker's Match" left at 8:30.  Later heard them talking to "Raven"
and saying that they were hoping to get to Vieques today, but they
got a late start because they had to wait for a part to come in.
Still later heard them talking to "Wounded Spirit",
saying MM had ordered a Honda EU 1000 generator for WS.
Why would anyone buy a generator these days, with fuel prices
doing what they're doing ?  I know those things are very fuel-
efficient, but I'd still get solar panels instead if there was any
possible way to fit them on the boat.  In Luperon, I heard one
boat borrowing a generator from another boat once a week or so, to
charge their batteries when they got low, so I guess the
portability is useful.

Cleaned the spark plugs on the outboard.

Dinghied ashore.  Did an hour of internet ($4) at the Cruiser's
Cafe; took forever to figure out the encryption settings, since
the people there had only a vague idea of what to do.  A guy
named Paul who was trying to help me looked like he was some
kind of trans-gendering person, or a transvestite.  Second guy
like that I've met on cruising boats, for what it's worth.

Heard via email that nine more boats left Luperon on Sunday night,
heading this way:  Serendipity, Purrfection, Aeolus, Obsession,
Otro Mundo, Second Wind, Katana, Diva, and one more.  Three had
trouble and headed back in and left again the next morning.
Apparently it's the first weather window since the one we left
in, a little less than a month ago.

Bought bread at the bakery.  Back to the boat.

"Maker's Match" is back.  Apparently they got out there and
their just-repaired chartplotter quit, so they came back in.
Then Chuck found a fuse that seems to have repaired it again.
So they'll probably leave at dawn tomorrow.

Pumped out the bilge and cleaned it a bit.

Saw a couple of dolphins in the anchorage, and 15 minutes later
saw a manatee near my boat.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwich for dinner.


12/15/2005 (Thursday)
At anchor at Salinas.

"Maker's Match" was gone before I poked my head up this morning.

Repaired negative wire from alternator to engine ground.
Greased unused tach adapter on engine.
Put a switch on the engine stop solenoid, and it only
twitches a little when I apply power to it.  So the problem
is at the solenoid, not the switch at the helm or the wiring.
Solenoid doesn't seem to be stuck; might be slightly misaligned.
Not sure what this symptom means; maybe I just need a new solenoid ?
Jumpered house batteries to genset battery to charge it a bit.

"Maranatha" came in about 10:15.

Went out and excavated my bike, and it's even worse than I
thought.  I knew there was lots of rust, especially on the
wheel rims, but I was able to pull a couple of spokes right
out of the front wheel's rim, so I think both wheels are
probably dead.

"Wounded Spirit" came in about noon.

Dinghied ashore after lunch, taking the bike.  When I got
on it very gingerly in the parking lot, the wheels didn't
crumple, but the steering was frozen.  And 15 seconds later,
the seat-tube snapped, giving me a nice set of scratches
on the side of my leg.  So it's a goner; time to strip
anything useful off it and discard it.  Left it locked to
the bike rack.

Showed Desmond and Hiro to the internet cafe and got them
connected.  Found "Shandara" on the docks, but no one home.
Soon met one of the guys from "Shandara" biking down the
street, and their plane schedules don't match ours.  Checked
out the marine store, which is quite nice, but the lady there
said the government is starting to enact a sales tax, which
PR has never had before.

Met Hoyt a little later.  Then sat and read at the publico
stop for an hour, but no publico's came by; several people
told me the service is all but dead.  Later, another
cruiser told me that a year or two ago, the government
gave lots of people money to buy houses, but they bought
cars instead, and killed the publico service.

On the way back to the boat, swung by a pair of rafted boats,
because one is "Psyche", and the owner runs a van up to San
Juan.  Got his number from Don on "Sunshine", the other boat
in the raft.  Turns out Norman is big buddies with Kenny on
"Smidgeon" back in Luperon, so Don was already up on all the
gossip I had about Luperon boats.

Hoyt brought over a bag of science-fiction books.  Yum, yum !

Salad and spaghetti and rum-and-coke for dinner.


12/16/2005 (Friday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Dinghied ashore, bought $5 of gasoline, and then walked 2 miles
to town with Hoyt.  I'd worn my sneakers, because flip-flops
would have killed my arches.  But the sneakers gave me a blister.

Town was interesting, but mainly I was trying to find more
ways to get to and from the San Juan airport.  Did a little
email at the library, and got another quote for a new genoa:
$2200.  Seems very high to me.  Asked at library about rides
to San Juan, asked at tourist office, asked in park,
found a travel agent I'd been told about, called a former
cruiser I'd been told about, found a big bus terminal.
Then we got some groceries and walked back.  Accomplished what
I set out to do: nailed down two more ways to get to/from
the airport.

Salad and chicken-and-rice and rum-and-coke for dinner.


12/17/2005 (Saturday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Loafed much of the day.  Judy brought over a hilarious book
from Hoyt, and I started reading that.  And she invited Hoyt
and me over for dinner tonight.

Dinghied over to chat with my friend Lee on "Santana".  Turns
out he has a very smiliar auto-pilot and he's just modified it
to use an LED instead of an incandescent bulb, and he had some
tips for me.  So I'll try to get motivated to try to fix the
auto-pilot again.

Took a dinghy-tour around the populated edges of the harbor,
and there are more boats and houses here than I suspected,
some of them pretty nice.

Took off forward hawse-pipe fitting, suspecting that water is
getting into the chain locker around it.  Sure enough, the
caulk around it was skimpy and very old and the wrong type.
And whoever cut the hole through the deck didn't bother to
seal the edges to keep water out of the coring, although the
coring doesn't seem to be wet.  And there are a couple of
extra holes filled with caulk.  Sealed holes and edges with
epoxy.

Sailboat "Aventura" came in about 5 PM.

Dinghied over to "Quest" at 6, and had a lovely evening with
Judy and Hoyt.  She made egg foo yung, mainly to use up a lot
of eggs before she flies out on Monday.  I had a couple of small
gin-and-tonics and then a couple of shots of cocoanut rum, so I
was floating by the time I got home at 11.  Lots of interesting
conversation.  Judy was in the Peace Corps in Honduras, and she's
traveled quite a bit in South America, including a couple of
commercial river-boat trips down the Amazon River; Hoyt and I
both would like to cruise up the Amazon some day.  And we talked
about Luperon and Puerto Rico and politics and war and religion
and all kinds of interesting things.

Beautiful clear, still night with a full moon.


12/18/2005 (Sunday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Tried to hear Car Talk at 5 AM, but it wasn't on.

Headachey from last night's alcohol, so I slept late.

Put the hawse-pipe fitting back on, with polysulfide caulk.

Emptied water-jugs into water tanks, with some bleach.
Emptied diesel jug into fuel tank, with some BioBor.
Added water to the batteries.

After lunch, dinghied ashore.  Almost lost my keys into
the water at the dock: as I walked on the dock, they fell through
a hole in my pocket and landed between two boards, but the
gap wasn't quite big enough to let them through into the
water.  Exchanged a couple of books.  Salvaged brake pads and
reflectors and lock off the bike, then put it by the dumpster.
The tires and tubes were okay too, but it would have been a
lot of work to get them off.

Was loafing on the boat when a couple kayaking by said "Hi, Bill!".
Turned out to be Chuck and Diane, a couple of my fans who have
been reading my log files.  I invited them aboard and gave them
a tour, and we had a nice chat.  I felt a little embarassed that
the boat was so messy, between packing for my trip and stuff
still moved out to get at the auto-pilot, and my natural messiness.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Emptied the fridge, shut it off, and cleaned it.


12/19/2005 (Monday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Hoyt was supposed to pick me up by dinghy at 8, but he showed
up at 7:30.  Rental car showed up at 8:30 as planned, and five of
us plus the rental guy packed into it.  Off to the rental office,
and lots of confusion as we tried to split the cost.  To the
airport by 10:30, chattering all the way.  Got there and realized
I'd left my passport on the boat, but fortunately I don't need
it for a trip to the USA.  Also forgot to bring a book, and a
snack.  Through security, and they have free WiFi inside the
airport, as I hoped !  No problem waiting if I can do internet
while waiting.  Found a used jib for $95; might take a shot at it.

Fired up my laptop in mid-flight, too, just because I've never
done that before (I guess I'm a poor example of an ex-computer-
programmer).  No WiFi up here, of course.  Lots of interesting
clouds to look at.

30-something degrees and 10-15 knots of wind in Philly; brrrr !


12/20/2005 - 1/6/2006
Boat's at anchor at Salinas; I'm in New Jersey.

Ahh: newspapers and NPR and WiFi and Mom (not necessarily
in that order).  What more could I want ?

Fixed the humidifier on Mom's heater; probably hasn't worked
for 10 years; I didn't know it even had one.  But it started
leaking a bit the next day, in a part I hadn't messed with.
Maybe needs a little dab of "pipe dope" (actually, that's a
description of me).  [Fixed it by getting rid of some corrosion
in the valve.]

Up to 50 degrees on Christmas weekend; nice.

Got to see my sister's new horse up on her mini-farm; it's a
mare descended from Seattle Slew.  They first had the horse
in foster-care, then took ownership of it.  It's 20 years old
or so.

Had a multiple-day headache around New Year's.  Not too bad;
I was mostly able to keep functioninng through it.

My New Year's resolution: to swim and snorkel more.

Repainted Mom's kitchen and breakfast-nook.

Used a home cholesterol test kit, and the result was 140-145,
which is fine.  So if my blood pressure, EKG, and cholesterol
are good, why did I have a couple of episodes of arm pain and
weakness ?

Got another free credit report, this time from Experian, and
it had a lot more info than the one from TransUnion.  Some wrong
info, too.

Fought major spy-ware and virus infestations of my laptop, and
finally upgraded to SP2 and installed multiple spyware-removers
to deal with it.  Still need to buy a new virus-checker.

Stacy stopped by on his way north and we had a nice chat;
he has a Krogen 42 in Norfolk that he's been fixing up for
the last three years.


1/6/2006
Boat's at anchor at Salinas; I'm in New Jersey.

Up at 4:30, caught 7:15 flight out of Philly, watched very
entertaining "Wallace And Grommet" film en route, and landed at
San Juan at noon.  Took 30+ minutes to get luggage, and they'd
damaged one corner of my suitcase.  Found Norman waiting where
he'd said he'd be, and he drove me back to Salinas (for $65).
At congested tollbooths, he drove up the shoulder to get past
other cars, and lots of other people were doing the same.
Nice conversation on the way, and I pumped him for info about
places he's cruised to.  He really liked Venezuela, and like
Grenada better than Trinidad.  He knows everyone in Luperon,
and has married a Dominican woman.  I hoped to stop at the
supermarket on the way back, but they're all closed because
today is a holiday (Three King's Day).

Saw Lee from "Santana" working on his scooter in the marina;
he thinks it's burnt a valve.  He gave me a dinghy-ride to my
boat; got there at 2:35.  Everything's fine; no problems with
the boat.  Unjumpered the batteries and added water to the
house batteries; one cell was down a lot more than the others.

"Wounded Spirit", "Wandering Albatross", "Maranatha" and "Quest"
are still here; I'm told "Fidelis" is here now too.  Looks like
several more cruising boats here than when I left.  On the drive
in, I saw Geraldo Rivera's sailboat anchored out in Bahia de Rincon;
that's the boat I saw docked in Ponce.  Apparently he comes here
with groups of friends.

Peanut-butter crackers for dinner.

A couple more boats came in and anchored after dark; I think they
may be Puerto Rican boats out cruising on the 3-day holiday weekend.

Partying ashore kept going all night until 5:30 AM or so.


1/7/2006 (Saturday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Loaded up the refrigerator with stuff and turned it on; it'll
take all day to get fully cold.  Filled and put out the solar
shower.

Outboard started after a little spritz of starting fluid.  Dinghied
ashore and got 10 gallons of water.  Was lucky enough to glom onto
a free ride to the supermarket, with Hoyt and some other cruisers
who were going to Ponce.  Bought $25 worth of groceries and walked
back 3 miles or so to the marina.  I had my walking-sneakers on,
had brought a vinyl cooler-bag for the refrigerated stuff, and the
thick clouds kept it from being too hot.  As I got to the marina,
a woman with a fairly irritating manner told me there is a car
service from that supermarket; I can get a ride back for $3.
Useful information, although delivered gruffly.

Saw a cockroach in the galley in broad daylight, but he got away.

Fairly threatening clouds all day, but it never did rain on us.

Put on fins and snorkel and went over to scrape the hull at
about 4 PM.  Water fairly cool, maybe because it hasn't been very
sunny today.  Lots of slimy stuff on hull and prop, and I scraped
the prop, but it all should rip off when I get moving.  So I spent
only 5 minutes in the water.

Chicken-onion-rice for dinner.


1/8/2006 (Sunday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Overslept and missed BBC on shortwave, and the AFR is pitiful now
that they've dropped all NPR content.  So I think I'm changing my
mind again: I think I WILL get Sirius satellite radio.

Ran engine for 15 minutes to exercise it.  Ran reasonably well.

Did a bucket of laundry.

Several cruising boats nearby with people working hard on projects;
guess I should get going on fixing the auto-pilot.  They're making
me feel guilty.

So, around 2, I got out the multimeter and started checking
voltages in the pilothouse-control part of the auto-pilot.  Most
of it made sense, but every now and then I'd get very confused.
Eventually I lucked into something: I found that while using the
auto-pilot in "manual steering" mode, suddenly the motor down
in the "power unit" in the engine compartment would stop responding
to the controls.  This mode is bypassing most of the control
circuits, so that narrowed down the field considerably.  I could
hear a relay clicking even though the motor wasn't turning, so
it had to be a motor problem.  Then I found I could get the motor
working again by going down and moving the fan belt a bit.  The
motor was getting stuck in certain positions !  That means some
kind of brush or armature problem inside the motor, I think.
Should be easy to fix, or get a new motor.

Struggled to get the motor out of the "motor box".  The pulley
didn't want to come off, even with a pulley-puller; getting it
back on will be fun.  Then I found that the motor can't be
maneuvered out of the "motor box" without taking the whole
"motor box" off the wall, which risks disturbing the hydraulic
lines.  Eventually got it out without damaging anything, I think.

Enough for today; I'll test and disassemble the motor tomorrow.
And if I can't fix it, I think there's a motor/alternator shop
in Salinas.

Heard "Katana" and "Serendipity" (more boats from Luperon) on the
radio briefly, so the next wave of boats may be catching up to us.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and rum-and-coke for dinner.


1/9/2006 (Monday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Killed a cockroach in the galley at 4 AM.

Listened to BBC and some NPR/AFR on shortwave, so AFR hasn't
quite dropped all of their NPR content.

Tested the auto-pilot electric motor by connecting it to the
batteries, and couldn't get it to stop in a "dead" position.
So I took it apart most of the way, and dumped a teaspoon
or two of carbon dust out of it; maybe that was just choking
it up.  Managed to get nasty carbon stains on the end of one
cockpit cushion and a bit of fiberglass.  Brushes look fine.
Cleaned it as much as possible and put it back together.
Tested it on batteries, and it's okay.  Put it back in, tested
auto-pilot in manual-steering mode, doesn't fail like it did
yesterday.  Put the auto-pilot completely back together, tested
a couple of times, and it still seems fine.  Real test will
come on a passage, but it looks good so far !

Dinghied ashore.  Got 10 gallons of water, exchanged a few books,
and went to the Cruiser's Cafe.  There I had a soda and a nice
sandwich and an hour of internet for $6.25 including tip.  Saw
Lee and Dave and Mary Liz.  Lee says someone looked at his
scooter and said the exhaust valve travel isn't right, so maybe
the valve hit the piston and lots of stuff is ruined; he may need
a new engine, after only 6 months (but 7000 miles) on a brand-new
150 CC scooter.  I'm still fighting massive infection of viruses
and spyware on my laptop.  Downloaded a new virus-checker
and a firewall.  Saw that it had rained while I was inside.
Back to boat.

Cleaned outboard's spark plugs, and pumped water out of the
dinghy keel.

Killed a cockroach in the cockpit.

Salad and peanutbutter-and-banana sandwiches for dinner.
Some Wasabi peas (a Christmas gift) for dessert.  Wow !
Those things will put hair on your chest !


1/10/2006 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Rain at 6 AM.

Heard some English-language stuff on a PR radio station;
apparently they have English for a few hours in morning
and evening, and Spanish the rest of the time.

Laptop computer is hosed; Windows won't boot.  Gets pretty
far along and then hangs, so I think viruses or filesystem
damage are stopping it.  Kept trying all kinds of things
until finally the connector for the power adapter got very
hot, and I had to stop.

Fuel level 6.0 inches at engine hour 3868.

Blowing hard today.

Worked on engine-stop solenoid some more, but can't get a
wrench on the huge nut that holds it on, and the bolts
holding the mounting bracket to the engine block are frozen.
And my can of penetrating oil is running dry.

Dinghied ashore after lunch.  Walked to hardware store,
which proved to be large and nice, but they were out of
penetrating oil.  Exchanged some books at the marina.
Read a book in the marina for a while.  Then Dave and Annie
from "Fidelis" invited me to come to a domino game in the
snack bar, and we ended up playing for more than 3 hours.
Couples from "Fidelis", "Wandering Albatross" and "Otre Mundo"
were there.  Lots of fun and nice conversation.

Turns out the four from "Fidelis" and "Wandering Albatross"
got into "Fidelis's" dinghy this morning, went a mile or so
down and out of the harbor to try some snorkeling, and then
the new/used outboard quit and could not be restarted.
So they had to paddle back a mile or more, at first being in
danger of getting blown down the coast a long way.  For some
reason, Dave swam ahead of the dinghy, maybe towing it a bit.
Anyway, they all were quite tired by the time they made it back.

Back to the boat around 7:30, and made chili for dinner.


1/11/2006 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Still rainy and windy.

Worked on engine-stop solenoid, eventually managing to
remove it from the engine and clean it up.  Seems to work
fine with power applied directly.  Maybe the connections
were dirty ?  Sanded the connections, put it back on (very
hard to get the return spring fastened back on), and it
doesn't work properly.  Now I think the only problem is
that somehow the core is coming too far out of the coil
when there is no power applied.  Probably can adjust something
to fix it, but what changed to make it stop working in the
first place ?

Tried a few more times to repair the laptop filesystem,
finding and fixing some damage, but the OS still won't boot.
Will have to reinstall it.

Paul from "Otre Mundo" stopped by to give me a large Thermos
they were giving away; they're trying to unclutter their boat
a bit, as is "Wandering Albatross".  Someone hit on a "one year
rule": if you haven't used something on the boat in at least
one year, get rid of it.

Dinghied ashore and went to the "Cruiser's Cafe" for lunch
and internet.  Got overcharged a bit; they're starting to
charge for every minute you're in the place, on the assumption
that you're using the internet the whole time.  Plugged my
laptop into AC power and reinstalled the OS, then started
reinstalling drivers.  WiFi card failed to reinstall, and
monitor is not quite right, but the OS is working and the
laptop is usable again, and I don't seem to have lost any
of my data.  But it's a pain to have to reinstall OS and
drivers and applications and such.  Used the cafe's PC to
do my email.

Blowing hard again all afternoon.  Hoped to leave soon, but
the weather doesn't sound very good for the next few days.

Took magazines I brought from USA and gave them to "Fidelis".

Suddenly saw a flurry of activity nearby.  Turns out the
dinghy got loose from "Aigue Belle" nearby, and the guy dove
in and swam after it to get it back.  I think it blew away
faster than he could swim, and Hoyt and Dave came to his aid.
Hoyt snagged the dinghy and Dave picked up the swimmer.

Hoyt from "Wounded Spirit" came by and wants help to publish
a sailing book/memoir from some old salt he knows.  Dave on
"Fidelis" just self-published a cruising veterinary book
(see www.lulu.com/captdrdave ) and Hoyt wants to do the same
with this memoir, so I'll try to help him.  But right now it's
on paper; he'll have to have it typed into a computer file.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and rum-and-coke for dinner.


1/12/2006 (Thursday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Still very windy, and rained several times in the morning.

Finally able to update my log file on my laptop; I've been
keeping notes on paper the last couple of days.  Fixed the
screen-resolution problem, but the WiFi card won't install
(PnP doesn't react when I insert it).

Dinghied ashore after lunch.  Bought about 5 gallons of
diesel and 1.5 gallons of gas; total $20.  Walked about 3
miles into the town of Salinas.  Not much fun to lounge
around here today becase they're having some kind of sewer
problem, and smelly water is coming up out of many of the
manholes and running down the streets.  Went into the library,
but they're closed for renovations or something.  To the
supermarket, and bought $22 of groceries.  Walked about 2/3
of the way back with groceries heavier than I expected, then
Norman and Hoyt came by and gave me a much-appreciated ride
the rest of the way.  Wind blowing very hard on the dinghy ride
back to the boat.

The guys on "Maranatha" are back from vacation.

Salad and cornedbeef-onion-noodle and cranberryjuice-and-rum
for dinner.


1/13/2006 (Friday)
At anchor at Salinas.

Up onto the foredeck at 6:30, and raised and cleaned the
secondary anchor, so now I'm swinging on one anchor.  Planning
to leave tomorrow morning.

Got the WiFi card working in my laptop.

Dinghied ashore, went to internet cafe, and updated my
laptop's OS.  Took 1.5 hours ($6), and after it finished with
downloading, it ran for another hour installing.  I left the
cafe to stop the meter running, and sat on a bench in the marina
letting the laptop finish installing, hoping my battery would
last.  Said hi to Desmond and Hiro from "Maranatha", but they
were tired and heading for the boat with frozen groceries,
so they didn't stay long.  Chatted with Chris and Mary Liz from
"Wandering Albatross", who also were headed to their boat with
cold groceries.  Laptop finished.  Walked down the to bakery,
lugging laptop and lots of books I'd picked up at the book-exchange.
Stopped to buy penetrating oil ($5) at the marine store, then
got nice rolls/bread at the bakery.  Back to the boat.

Dinghied over to "Maranatha" and gave them a copy of the
Pavlidis PR guide which I'd gotten as a Christmas gift; I already
have a copy of that exact guide.  Desmond gave me a tour of their
boat, and it's gorgeous.  It's a Whitby or Formosa ketch, 40 or 42
long.  They got it as a "project boat", spent a solid 14 months
and probably $25k to $30k fixing and improving it, and they are
keeping it in very clean shape.  Makes me ashamed of the dirt
and un-done projects on my boat.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.  Had some lovely
walnuts that someone gave me for Christmas; they had butter
and cinnamon on them, I think, and were scrumptious.

Sprayed a cockroach in the galley around 10 PM.



[Next log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLog2006Early.txt ]