We are gearing up to leave Colombia (we hope, as we haven’t officially checked in yet and it’s been 2 weeks of bureaucratic hell). Here is our video from the Montserrat, Martinique, Dominica, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Bonaire, Curacau & Colombia. Hope you enjoy.
Archive for May, 2012
Santa Marta, Colombia
Boats fill our lives and carry our dreams
We have made it to South America under sail of more that 3250 miles. It seems so far and yet not so much too. That distance is
like driving across the USA. But, so much has happened. 20 Countries, countless officials, a million worries, 34 friends sailing with us, at least 60 friends joining us for a beer in our home – Rivers2Seas. We have lived aboard for 10 months now. Much of it seems like a dream, a great long dream with a couple scary parts thrown in to keep it real. Adventure is out there.
We have already accomplished so much. Cruising is difficult. Hard. It’s like travelling back in time where everything takes more
They love it all, even in the rain
time. Washing dishes, clothes, cooking, getting cooking fuel, showering and taking a dump are all more difficult. Grocery shopping is an all day affair, usually with a two-mile walk on either end with heavy sacks on the way home in blistering heat. Most of the people out cruising are couples or single men. They often express amazement that we are doing all this with two young kids (or foolishness for making it so hard on ourselves). Having to do all this with them in tow, certainly increases the workload. It’s hard enough to watch after yourself, but to do it while being focused on a youngster increases everything. Lindsey has done more than the Lion’s share of managing the kids. I get to do more of the fun stuff like reading books, playing pirate or conducting art class with them.
My jobs are the smelly, dirty jobs of engine maintenance and repair, sewer management, electrical engineering and power, water production, and on good days wind transference into propulsion. So far, we have been able to keep costs down by being able to fix every issue onboard by ourselves. In the Bahamas, John aboard Bikini helped many times in either turning wrenches or more often with advice. Other than that is has been me with my library of fix-it manuals, product informational manuals and the internet teaching me how to find and fix the problems. Finding the problems is usually the hard part. But then, rusted on bolts and the wrong or no spares are difficult too. One of my favorite fixes onboard is still the dinghy throttle where I had to manufacture a part and make a round peg fit and not slip in a square hole. Accomplishment comes in many forms.
While this is difficult, the rewards are enormous. Memories like sailing across the Mona Passage, catching lobster for dinner, reeling in a Mahi Mahi, numerous waterfalls, breaching humpback whales, swimming with turtles, SUPing around islands, meeting locals and hanging out with other cruisers especially Bikini has made all the hassles and difficulties worthwhile. This adventure is difficult, but FUN.
landfall in South America
Sadly our journey is changing. We chose to do this trip while continuing our rafting business back in Colorado. Working from the boat has been a little bit of a struggle at times, but overall has worked beautifully. Technology has made all this possible. I can work on advertisements here and send them to people like nothing has changed. I can send documents to insurers and government agencies with the same speed and accuracy as if I was in Fort Collins. Email especially has kept me in constant contact with my business ventures. Our costs have been kept low by always trying to do fix things ourselves instead of calling an expert. It’s rare that we spend money on a mooring or a marina. The anchor is usually free and often more secure than anything else.
What hasn’t gone well are the things we have no control over. The weather last year with a 300% snowpack gave us a less than average rafting season. This years’ 23% snowpack looks to be the worst season ever. How I have wished for an average snowpack. But, average is only the sums of lows and highs. Our renters trashing our house with a puppy mill and $26,000 in damages depleted our budget instead of adding needed revenue. That’s life. Things change. So must we. We were already financially overextended and hoping for some good revenue from Mountain Whitewater Descents. We don’t want to sell our rafting business or our land home, so that leaves Rivers2Seas. Don’t want to sell her either. With no money in the bank account something must give. Our dream to sail around the world is the most prudent answer.
I’m glad that we didn’t know all the bad financial woes that would happen. We never would have cast the dock lines. We never would have purchased the boat in the first place. Our accomplishment and fun and adventure and teachings would never have happened. I’m glad we didn’t know.
We must look at reality of our financial situation and change our path. Heading back to Colorado to salvage our rafting season while living in our pop-up camper on the property makes sense. We will return to Rivers2Seas in early August and then make our way up the Eastern Caribbean and back to Florida. Sadly, we will have to sell our home and move back to Colorado next year. A two-year adventure with our kids is still something to be proud of certainly.
This is the second time I have tried to circumnavigate our earth. I failed the first time when I ran out of will and resources after 2400 miles by canoe, 10,000 by bike and 2500 by sail. My $3000 took me halfway. A year of effort but the goal still unattained. This effort has been bigger and will last two years but only about 6000 miles by sail. My progress at circumnavigation seems to be getting worse. Failure sure. But the only true failure is that of someone who never tries. I try. I pour my heart into it and what happens happens. We have spent well over $3000 on this journey. Yet, it is still worth it. Our successes so far greatly outweigh any failure.
“What constitute the pleasures of the traveler are obstacles, fatigue or even danger. What charm can there be in a journey when one is always sure to arrive and find his horses ready, a downy bed, an excellent supper and all the comfort one enjoys at home? One of the great misfortunes of modern life is the absence of the unexpected, the lack of adventure. Everything is so well regulated, so well fitted into its place and ticketed, that chance is no longer possible; another century of improvements, and everybody will be able to foresee from the very day of his birth all that will happen to him up to the day of his death.”
Monsieur Theophile Gautier, 1840.
Ella Modesitt
By Ella Modesitt
In Bonaire, I went SCUBA diving with my dad. It was fun. We went under two boats – the dinghy and
I’m a Mermaid!
Rivers2Seas. I saw so many fish, there must have been 100 of them. I liked it because we could be under the water together. My dad and I shared the same tank. I felt totally like a mermaid. I moved my legs like a mermaid too.
We saw a parade. There were people with really pretty dresses. One little girl gave me and my brother a piece of candy. They were dancing in their fancy dresses. The music was really loud so that everyone could hear. I think a little too loud.
I liked the colorful buildings
We sailed to Curacao. Daddy went to customs all day long. I played with a little French girl on our boat. We played hide and seek with Chase. I did not understand a single word she said. She didn’t want to go home. Chase and I played on the best park yet. It wasn’t broken or torn or rusted. Chase and I got ice cream. We went to customs and looked at all the houses. They were all sorts of colors.
On the passage to Santa Marta, Colombia in the night there was lots and lots and lots of lightning. We all had to go down into one room so if the mast was hit by lightning we wouldn’t be killed or injured. We put on wetsuits that were really hot and read some books. Chase was throwing up. There was lots of rain. I did not see any cats and dogs. I didn’t really sleep – it was too hard.
We were close to land but before we got there lightning came again. We read some more of my Mermaid book.
Rivers2Seas is now tied up at a dock in Santa Marta Colombia. I have sailed a super duper long way. I have been to 21 countries so far. My favorite country was Bonaire or maybe Saba or…all of them.
It’s 12:15 A.M. My arms are wrapped around the boom holding on tight like I’m wrestling an alligator. I’m scared, but loving it too. Wind tries to rip me off with the help of the bouncing seas. Cold rain pelts my bare back stinging as it hits. It’s so cold and hard and big it feels like hail. I’m screaming to Lindsey at the top of my lungs, who is only nine feet away but can’t hear me well, to tighten the mainsheet. It takes about ten seconds and then I’m really swinging back and forth on the boom.
12 hours earlier – enjoying the large following seas
A minute and a half earlier, I was sound asleep in my room snuggled up to Lindsey. Damian calls down to get me; the wind is acting strange he says. When I look at the helm, the wind has clocked around and is now directly behind us. An accidental jibe, where the boom gets wind from the other side and slams to the opposite side of the boat, is now a distinct possibility. I turn Rivers2Seas 20 degrees to port. I yell to Damian to pull in the jib while I loosen it. As we manage that, Lindsey is on scene donning her PFD.
Engines are started and Lindsey turns the boat around so that we can go into the wind to drop the mainsail. With the large following seas it’s a bit tricky to time when to turn and miss a wave hitting us broadside. The complete darkness makes it almost impossible. I have my harness buckled to my PFD and am making my way to the mast, clipping and unclipping my two straps to the jacklines surrounding the boat. The key is to always have one clipped in. With the jib pulled out to the side, I must clip and unclip eight times before I’m to the mast. By the time I get there, Lindsey has us into the wind, which is now up to 36.2 knots. Lindsey is focused on the boat displays and steering. Damian is trying to focus on me; he can’t see me. All he can see is my headlamp dimly through the rain. Luckily, he doesn’t see it go overboard.
buying some fruits in Curacao
Quickly pulling the main halyard off the brake and lowering it quickly, the mainsail plummets. There is no nice flaking of the sail tonight. Get it down, fast is all I can think. Once down I try to get it into the sailbag but can’t because the sailties holding the reef in essentially get rid of the sailbag. I try to pull the sail in doing a crappy flake job when the boom slides quickly towards me. The sail is being pulled up by the wind. I jump aboard and hold on. That’s when I started yelling to Lindsey to pull in the mainsheet, which would steady the boom.
She couldn’t see me or see what I was doing. She’s nine feet away and the rain is so thick we can scarcely see each other. Wind is truly howling around us. Alarms about the wind speed are going off and she is trying to maintain direction. Normally, we loosen the mainsheet just before dousing the main to help it slide down with the wind. She had no idea that I had already taken it down – certainly an all-time speed record on my part. So when she told Damian to loosen the mainsheet, that’s what we normally would have done. This wasn’t normal. That’s why I’m flying around on the boom being rocked crazily back and forth. My screams to “tighten, TIGHTEN!!!” were finally understood and the boom stabilized. I wrapped a line around the sail, called it good and made my way back to the cockpit.
Curacao waterfront
We turned the boat around again to go with the seas and wind under motor. Radar showed that this wasn’t that big of a storm only about six miles across, so it should be over soon. It’s wasn’t. Rivers2Seas was screaming along at 9-10 knots with the engines on 2000rpm (about 2/3 power). Even without sails a sailboat can move in high winds. We were following the storm and staying with it. Turning the boat around to go into the waves and let the storm get in front of us didn’t work either. No matter what we did the storm stayed directly above us. We resumed coarse again and watched the lightning show.
sometimes you sleep anywhere
Most of the lightning is off in the distance, but some is within a mile. Lindsey and the kids head down into the hulls for safety. She was worried about the situation and decided to put the kids’ wetsuits on. I suppose there were some good wave crashes and we caught some big surfs on the waves. We even recorded a 12.5 knot surf down one of the big ones. So I suppose her being worried and proactive was a good thing. A good friend of ours Eric has a saying, “if you’re not scared now, you’re not paying attention.” I am paying attention. The kids wanted to read the Little Mermaid, which starts out with a boat being hit by lightning and blown to smithereens. Somehow they liked it.
Putting the handheld GPS and VHF radio in the oven is the last precautionary measure I can do. The theory is that the oven can act like a Faraday cage when lightning strikes and protect the instruments inside. Every other electrical object with a computer chip will be destroyed. I hope we don’t test the theory.
I have been wearing only shorts and the cold rain has me shivering uncontrollably. Rain blasts at my eyes that now have clear sunglasses on to protect them. But my skin must be blue. Luckily, every once in a while a wave splashes over the rail and douses me with the 86-degree seawater; it feels like a hot tub. I head to our cabin for warm clothes and finally get to wear my Denver Broncos wool cap. How far south have we gone?
Sunset on the water
Watching dolphins
relaxation on the passage
The storm stays with us for two hours slowly deteriorating. Damian has gone to bed. Lindsey and the kids are “sleeping” in our cabin. Neither liked the lightning. Chase didn’t like the stuffy cabin and was throwing up in a bowl. So, nobody was all that comfortable. My shift ends at 5AM, I wake Damian, then collapse onto the sofa.
Worm
It’s one of the many times we are thankful to have Damian here. Passages are difficult. Sailing with kids is difficult. Doing both together can tax a couple. Having him here has taken off some of the load. The kids love “Worm” too. Chase especially likes throwing him overboard. They tell him innumerable stories of life with great enthusiasm. He has also become chief dishwasher, which has helped too. Pitching in with everything and enthusiastically – he’s a great team member aboard Rivers2Seas. We should have him back when it’s vacation time in easy islands. One of these days I wouldn’t mind having a mechanic onboard. My brain and knuckles could use a rest.
Somehow, the starter on the port engine has now failed. Frustrating! Tests and curses have confirmed that it’s bad. My book on how to fix everything from Niger Calder saves the day when he says that I can “push start” the engine using the propeller. Put it in neutral, turn the key, then slam the throttle forward. Rev, reeevv. The engine hums to life. I have always been impressed with Lindsey for push starting a school bus for me once. Now, I can boast about push starting a boat. “You have to kick real hard…maybe wear some fins to push the 15 tons.”
We make it into Santa Marta Colombia with a fast passage of 2 nights and 3 days. The kids never asked once “are we there yet” during either of our latest passages that totaled over 130 hours of sailing time. We have our little sailors. I’m proud of them.
Right now I am exhausted. Bone tired. I haven’t done much during this passage from St. Lucia to Bonaire. Not much except worry. The sailing is great, easy even. A large following sea gives us a nice push in the exact direction we want to go. The wind is directly behind us pushing on the jib and genaker giving us an average of over 6 knots towards our goal that was originally 450 miles away. We now have about 150 to go after sailing for the last 48 hours. Yep, the sailing is going great.
The crew is doing well. Our newest member, Worm (or Gunner or Damian depending on which ski patrol you know him from), has been a real asset. Lindsey Worm and I take 3-hour watches, which gives us six hours off. Well, it could. An hour before my shift started last night Worm woke me up about a ship that was close and not moving. We couldn’t tell if it was a tanker or two separate fishing ships. An hour after it was first sighted, all of a sudden it took off fast and did a semicircle around the boat at 12 miles perfectly. I wouldn’t know this if I couldn’t track him on radar. It is a weird track, but he’s probably just fishing. Later, after my shift was over Lindsey woke me from a deep sleep to say another ship was coming right at us. It was coming fast, but the worry made it seem to take forever. It was just another fishing boat. All sleep had to be abandoned for the day. Time to wrestle with the kids and read books together.
Why am I so worried? Pirates. Not the ones my kids are pretending to be right now. I can handle the foam swords just fine, even when I get that full smack across the face. It’s the AK-47 wielding pirates that would board, kill me, rape my wife and sell my kids that has me worried. I would gladly take the killing if the other two wouldn’t happen. But really, I’d rather none of this to take place.
The Venezuelan coast has become so notorious that our insurance company won’t allow us to travel to the country. Too bad, when I was there to bicycle south to Chile in 1994 it was a fantastic country with some really friendly and giving people. Drug runners now control the coasts and hijackings and murders are a real possibility. The AIS (automatic information system) is turned off. We don’t want the pirates to see a 41-foot by 24-foot private sailing vessel out here, unprotected and easy picking. There is certainly no need to give them a road map to where we are. Our navigation lights are still on at night, so if they get close, they could find us. This is why I worry.
I worry at watch. I worry while I’m “sleeping”. I worry constantly. I don’t talk about it to anyone. Why would I? If they aren’t worried, then I should let them enjoy this really nice passage. And anyway, the captain is always the first to be tossed overboard.
As I was checking out of St. Lucia the immigration officer questioned me about Ella. “She’s crew?” she asked dubiously. “Well, yes she is,” I replied. I had almost written that she was more than crew and actually first mate. That would have caused some trouble so I’m glad I just put crew. She is actually crew, with responsibilities. She helps run this ship. “Yes maam, she’s six and does a great job aboard Rivers2Seas.” When the woman next looked at Chase’s passport with “crew” marked, she just looked up at me with these eyes of disbelief. I was ready to list his responsibilities like the anchor light, navigation lights, steaming light, repairman’s assistant and monitor of the fishing lines. She didn’t ask. Bummer. I wanted to impress her with what a 4-year-old can do if given the opportunity. It seems most kids these days have absolutely no responsibilities. Ours do and it has made them far better people.
We had some people aboard who left the transom shower on all night. It has one main on/off handle and another one
on top the mast again
on the showerhead to use so that water is conserved while moving the head around. The head doesn’t really shut off. Well, I told these adults about it and explained how to use it and they left it on. We lost 70 gallons of water. Some of the water went into the hull, but most just overboard. I had to use the wet vac in all three bilges down the port hull to get it all out. I was very nice when I mentioned that it was really important to turn things off. The reply is what will stay with me forever. “If it’s that important to you Brad, then maybe you should have checked it yourself.” My 4-year-old can handle it, but not these 40-year-olds. I just replied that I agreed. Mistakes happen. Some people are sailors, some aren’t. Are Chase and Ella crew on Rivers2Seas – you bet? Certainly better behaved and more fun than people who on paper appear that they could be sailors.
The spare halyard just broke and sent the genakker flying into the sea. The three adults managed to wrestle it back onboard without much issue. I always wondered what would happen if one of the halyards broke. Now I know. I’m just glad it happened in light winds and during the day after my coffee. The hard part will be winding a spare line through the mast when we hit port.
We make the 470-mile passage (a little more than the direct path from tacking) in 77 ½ hours. Not bad, considering the wind was directly behind us, which is a poor point of sail and only at 15 knots. A Mahi Mahi made for a nice fresh dinner en route. A school of 400-pound tuna got us excited, but we didn’t catch any. Watching the hundreds of fish leap out of the water covering a several hundred-yard space was truly amazing.
Rivers2Seas above with dinghy and fish below
Bonaire is described on all their literature as a diving paradise. It is. After tying up to a mooring ball, because you can’t anchor and damage reefs that way, we do a dive right off the back of Rivers2Seas. Down 40 feet to the bottom and the reef cliff then plunges down to 114 feet. I know the depth because I just had to go to see the bottom. Two dives a day for two tanks adds up pretty fast, so we opted to get a package fill of our tanks – 21 fills for $107US. Compared to the $100 per dive price, we have congratulated ourselves on the nice gear we purchased. Nice, as in it works. Most of it is falling apart, but the essential components work if just a little leaky.
SCUBA diving brings us to another world. Every creature is simply weird. Hundreds of fish from tiny yellow angelfish no bigger than the end of my pinky to large 6-foot tarpon patrol the water. Odd shaped fish like flutes and puffer fish and boxfish swarm all around the tube coral. Sharp-tongued eels slither around the bottom poking their heads into holes looking for food. Shrimp and other spider looking guys run around the coral heads. It’s simply amazing to witness.
The MAN – Turtle at his best
The kids have been having fun snorkeling but wanted to try the
A SCUBA diving family!
SCUBA. Ella is now hooked and asks to go every day. Thankfully, I can appease her and take her diving for a few minutes after my dive. Hey, if I have to go diving to make my kids happy, that is what I will do. Chase enjoys it too but would rather do cannonballs off the boat.
We arrived in Bonaire during the Queen’s day celebration and saw a brightly colored if super short parade. The kids loved the dancing and colorful costumes. The town has a slow pace and clean atmosphere. The Dutch islands are the best taken care of in the Caribbean. We will return to dive here and to Saba for sure.
Heaven?
The weather forecast for the difficult run to Cartagena, Columbia is looking really good. Low winds mean small seas in this notorious spot. Tomorrow we will leave for Curacao and then head off to the South American mainland the next day. Woo Hoo.
It’s difficult doing all this writing and sailing and living, so we haven’t written anything on these great islands. Not sure if anyone cares anyway.
But here are some photos.
Rivers2Seas sailing with the Modesitt's 