The first few day after repairs

These first days of the trip, I am finding out too many minor failures that could have developed into major ones.
In Coinjock, I found the pedestal of the steering wheel wobbling. Looking into it, I found that none of the bolts that secure the compass housing to the pedestal were tight, one of them being half way  out.  I managed to tighten them up and so far, it looks OK.
The leak in the fresh water system, after we replaced the pump, the faucet in both bathroom, the fittings on the water heater, is still there. The pump comes on every now and then, but not often enough to worry me, so we have not yet measured the time between each burst of the pump. Feels like more than an hour.
Then, here in River Dunes, all of a sudden, my GPS stopped working, not finding any satellite. I found that the GPS end of the new antenna installed in Norfolk had popped out of the unit. It did not look like the parts of the termination connection had been soldered together, but I am too ignorant to say for sure that it should have been soldered. I will have a technician check that once in Wrightsville Beach.
And then, I lost my WiFi. It turned out that the wifi system in Coinjock is very invasive to the point of changing the IP address of the Wireless Bridge part of the antenna and I could no longer communicate with it. It is one of those systems where after you think you have connected successfully with the hot spot, you then have to follow an 8 steps procedure to login the provider system. In the process, apparently, the system reconfigure the system on the boat. Fortunately, this system comes from IslandTimePC, and Bob Stewart who owns and manages the company is almost always available, very knowledgeable and helpful. Although I had a very weak connection in Dowry Creek marina, I was able to download two files on my netbook  that he sent me and helped me solve the problem. As always with electonic issues, lots of time to trouble shoot the damn thing.
And then, there was the Noreaster that disappeared early and never really threatened us. We had decided to hunker down in River Dunes marina (very nice and inexpensive) and spend the Wednesday there. Which we did. However, Wednesday was cold but not as windy as forecast and we could probably have gone. We will use the time to sort out those many things that remain unchecked on the to-do list when you cast off the lines.
The marina charges $1/foot for the night plus $5 for the 30 amp electricity. We had dinner at the club house for $15 per person which is very reasonable. This is a new marina, which you could not see on the charts but is mentionned on the Waterway Guide. You access it through a narrow channel opening opposite Red #4 in the Broad Creek. Very well protected, new docks with electricity, water and WiFi. Extremely nice facilities, showers and laundry. It is in the middle of nowhere, with no 7/11 or MacDo in sight, but it is comfortable enough that you don't need those. And they have a courtesy car.

By the way, if you want to follow Papy Jovial in real time, go to "whatusea.com", enter with "brisegalets_1" as user name and "papyjovial41" as password.

Under Way

Finally the new voyage has started. We left Portsmouth Boating Center in the morning yesterday on November 3 with my riding buddy Mike aboard. This first day to Coinjock was quite uneventful, with all bridges opening as we arrived and no time wasted. We left at 7:32 and arrived at 15:32, in the cold but no rain. Mike's son was there to drive his dad back to Norfolk and we had dinner at the Coinjock Marina restaurant and Karen finally was able to enjoy the famous Prime Rib (16 ounces however, not 32).
Next morning, having enjoyed the one hour extra (fall back one hour to kill the Saving Time hour), we left for not Columbia but Alligator Marina river. Both Karen and I are very cold and we want to make sure that as long as the thermometer remains depressed, we spend night where we can plug in. Being in Alligator River marina gives us a chance to make Dowry Creek marina tomorrow.
For the last few days, my lower back had been bothering me quite a bit, but since yesterday it has gone to excruciating pain and I have to rely on Karen for a lot of the daily chores that I should share.
The leak on the freshwater system is still there having replaced all faucets and all suspicious clamps. We cannot find any moist point anywhere, on what of the system is visible, but still the pump comes on every now and then. We have not measured the new interval yet and hopefully it will remain over one hour.
I have lost the ability to talk to my Wifi Bridge and antenna but I cannot understand what. I will have to call Bob Stewart as soon as I regain phone service and try to trouble shoot that. Meanwhile, I have to use my netbook, which is quite useful.
I have just left, but I already miss my Norfolk brothers. I think of them and I already look forward to getting back to Norfolk around May 2015.

Diminishing returns

Left Lucaya Waterway on Saturday with 179 miles to go. We actually did only 155, thanks to the Gulf Stream in an uneventful passage. We got there early in the morning to top up the fuel tank, tie up at the Cape Canaveral marina, not without having fist to be subjected to third degree questioning by a Customs/Border Security agent, searching the boat with a dog, etc...., and then clear immigration and customs with the help of Gary. We then spent a wonderful time with Gary and Dolores, both being just back from a week of tourism in Saint Augustine where we are headed.

The weather was still near perfect, so we went outside, this time only for 111 miles to Saint Augustine. There we met with

Tom and Sarah, and h

ad dinner at a place that Gary had told us about, the Gypsy Cab Company and I would highly recommend anyone visiting Saint Augustine to visit that place. Wonderful food, unusual menu, everything great.

Next morning, the weather was still looking very good, and we went outside, headed to an anchorage in the waterway north of Fernandina Beach. This time, it was only for 64 miles. What was not planned was that as we were entering the St Marys river inlet the motor overheated and I had to sail in against the light wind but with the tide pushing me in.

Once anchored outside the city marina, an investigation of the problem showed a blocked strainer, filled with algae, and an impeller that had lost all its blades.

It is common knowledge that I am by no means a mechanic, but with the help of Tom

and Sarah who drove all the way from Jacksonville to bring me two impellers, and of Michael Monteith who coached me on the phone, I replaces the impeller, cleaned the strainer, back washed the heat exchanger, topped up the coolant, and eventually had the engine working properly by 2:00 p.m. the next day.

This time, we had to stay inside, with the threats of severe thunderstorms and a strong cold front coming in. But by late afternoon, we were at Jeckyll Island Harbour marina and tied up there with 25 knots of wind pushing us towards the dock. After settling in, we went to the restaurant and had a very pleasant dinner with a couple of cruisers who are relocating in Annapolis. That day we only did 27 miles but we felt that we had accomplished a good day's work.

Next destination was a place called Cattle Pen Creek which looked good on paper. However, it's a very narrow creek and after we had the anchor settled, we found ourselves aground on the side. Not that it mattered much. We did not feel a thing and Papy Jovial stayed upright all night and everything was fine until early in the morning we you found the cockpit littered

with hundreds of small flies. Besides, the chain and anchor with covered with that lovely black sticky mud so common in the waterway. Anyway, we got under way early and got to Savannah at 2 p.m. There we

were entertained byPatrick who took us wherever we needed to go to do some shopping and get some parts for the boat, then took us for dinner to the place rated at the best restaurant in Savannah, i.e. Cha Bella. To make is even better, Albert and Alice managed to join us and this was again a memorable brotherhood evening.

We left Savannah (Thunderbolt Marina) early the next day as I wanted to get to Beaufort early enough to do the Horse Drawn Carriage tour. And we did . We arrived shortly after 1 p.m. and we got immediately on the tour. I had already done it, but I knew Karen would enjoy it and she did. After the tour, I went back to the boat to try and take care of a fresh water leak and I half solved the problem. For the other half, I have to remove a bronze fitting and I am afraid to break something. So I will wait until I am near a place where I can get mistakes taken care of.

Then from Beaufort, I was hoping to make the infamous Whapoo bridge by 4.00 p.m. (it is closed from 4 to 6:30 p.m.) and may be go through the Ben Sawyer bridge. But the tide made it impossible and we chose to make the 6:30 opening and go to the City Marina in Charleston so that we would be passed the Whapoo bridge. However, The Ben Sawyer bridge is also restricted, and we will have to wait for the 9:00 o' clock opening and make Georgetown early enough to enjoy it. We shall see . . . . .

Last few days in Haiti

The main problem that was left was to recover the anchor and Robert Stryanin was very helpful in letting his diver come and help. He had an instrument to locate metallic objects on the bottom and the anchor was recovered in no time. I then put everything as it was before, except that with Max help, we connected the two 50 feet length of chain together. I now have 100 feet + 175 feet of rope and that should cover all situations in Haiti.

After that, we went to Port au Prince for last shopping and a last meeting of the brothers of the Coast, at Chateau

Phoenix (where Lee has a bed and breakfast), where we also met the singer Bernard Lavilliers.

On Saturday night, we had a few drinks with Berthold from GIZ, and Sala and Agathe who wanted to hitch a boat ride to Mole Saint Nicolas, which obviously was no problem at all.

And on Sunday, around 3 p.m. we left with Max, Agathe, Sala and me for Mole Saint Nicolas. Unfortunately, after a wonderful afternoon the evening turned out to be a little choppy and Agathe got sea sick. It was a bit late for her to take sea sickness medecine, but she managed to keep some of it in and she spend the rest of the night sleeping comfortably.

We arrived at Mole St Nicolas on Monday morning at 7:30, and after breakfast at Boukan Guinguette, we had another working meeting with the mayor, this time with the head of police in the city.

All that went well and after dinner with Julien at Boukan Guinguette we took a little nap and left around 10:00 p.m. for Grand Bahamas.

On Wednesday night we anchored past Coakley, and then went direct for Lucaya Waterway where we got shortly before 6:00 p.m.

We will spend a few days here, time for Max to fly back to Haiti and Karen to fly in from the U.S., and then it will be return to the US.

Conclusion of the Dominican adventure

Monday was not enough to get the boat ready to leave and we had to return to the boat yard on Tuesday to check that what we asked for was there (additional fuel tank, oars, etc . . .) and to check that the motor was running fine.

We left on Wednesday morning at 4 with a truck from the yard, towing the boat on a trailer. This trailer was for us a major problem. The yard thought that we could launch the boat and then load the trailer on top of it and sail like that to Jacmel. That trailer is slightly larger than the boat and we could not see that without running the risk of damaging the boat.

But first we had to go through the 7 hours drive to Pedernales from Santo Domingo with Dominican music playing full blast, windows open, and rather chilly wind coming through the windows. Not very comfortable for me, sitting at the back of a double cabin pick up truck in company of the 9.9 spare outboard.

Anway, having left at 4:30, we arrived in Pedernales around 10:30, and we started with good news. Max was able to negotiate with the President of the Fishermen association of Pedernales the transportation of the trailer on another boat that will travel with us.

But first we have to get permission from the Commandante of the "Marina de Guerra" to launch the boat here in Pedernales. We don't want to have to cross the border on land as we don't want to have to deal with immigration on both sides (we never entered Domrep officially) and we certainly don't want to have to deal with Haitian customs.

It took three hours and several hundreds of pesos, but eventually Max went through all that with patience and experience and we were able to launch the boat around 1:30 p.m. and leave for Jacmel in Haiti, with the trailer following us on another boat.

The trip will not be without problems. We don't know the boat and we have had no time at all to test the equipment. The electric connections have to be redone, the bilge pump is running non stop and the GPS quit quitting. Max is very experienced with speed boats, but yet has difficulties balancing the boat properly. At more than 20 knots, the boat is slapping the sea very hard. Not comfortable even if it is not a major problem.

We arrived in Jacmel before sunset and the vehicle from IZ is also there. Unfortunately and after market fender at the back makes the towing ball out of reach. They had to go and look for a local "boss" to cut the fender loose. Also the driver is not too familiar with towing and even less backing a trailer into the water and we have to make do with what we can. We end up with the boat off center and listing a good 30 degrees. The argentine military staff who have a small base in Jacmel where we got in will help us put the boat back properly on the trailer and as night falls we are on our way to Grand Goave where we will arrive with a heavy downpour, welcome as it will rinse the boat properly.

This concludes the delivery of the 22 footer from DomRep and Max can be proud to have successfully and without a hitch completed the mission.

It's now back to the all too familiar Haitian problems.

Dom Rep adventure - Part 1

It all started on friday night when Henri came to pick me up and take me back to Max. We had dinner and I went to sleep in a tent that offers wonderful protection against mosquitoes. I set my alarm clock for 4 in the morning, but rain woke me up at 1. It rained for one hour (not one drop inside the tent) and I had

a hard time going back to sleep. So at 4, I went in for breakfast and we left at 4:30 next morning. Got to Port au Prince very early, in time for juice and chocolate croissants, then Villa Creole in Petionville to board the vehicle that would take us to DomRep

with the dinghy and motor recovered from Anse d'Hainaut.

Following a dispute betw

een truck drivers, the main border crossing had been closed now for almost 10 days and many hundred of trucks are stranded there. So, our guide and driver Berthold, who is the boss of the largest german Non Government Organization in Haiti, took us through a secondary crossing with very little traffic since the road is only a lousy dirt road. The crossing was done with no more than a friendly waving of the hand and no stopping of the car, at bo

th the Haitian border cr

ossing post. At the Dominican border post, the agents were too busy on their computers and we left w

ithout checking in. That suits me fine. My passport is full, except for a half page that I want to keep as I will need it to go in and out of the Bahamas.

Eventually, we got to Santo Domingo at 5 p.m. local time and Max was able to find for us a nice local hotel at 32 dollars a night in the colonial zone. We thehen had drinks with Berthold and his charming wife Valerie, before going for dinner at the Mercure Hotel.

Next morning, after breakfast in a cafe near the hotel, we left with Berthold and Valerie for Boca Chica to return the motor and the dinghy to their owners. Got there at 11:30, spent a little time on their boat, then had lunch at the marina.

During lunch, we met with a member of a group of 4 Norwegian on a sailboat, doing circus performances and music, and I took the opportunity to talk to them about the Festival of the Sea and invite them to go there and maybe perf

orm there. We also talked Georg into leaving his boat in Grand Goave while he goes to Germany for three months.

This is very positive and hopeful, but it also stresses the urgency of having formalities and moorings in place a.s.a.p.

We then drove back to Santo Domingo, went for dinner to a local restaurant "El Meson", serving good food local and international, and back to the hotel for the night.

Max had received informations from Grand Goave that Papy Jovial had broken her mooring line, that the boat was now tied up behind the fishing boat that is anchored in front of Michel Simon's house, and that efforts were under way to recover the lost anchor and chain, set up the second mooring line, etc. . . . A little stressful and a guaranteed bad night, but

apart from providing advice on finding stuff on the boat,

nothing I can do. Just keep my fingers crossed.

Monday will be devoted by Max to run some errands about his boat building business in Grand Goave, then we will take care of the boat that we will take back to haiti hopefully on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Meanwhile, we still hear about crisis at the border and the usual ongoing political crisis in Haiti. With so much negative energy going on in the political circles that one wonders if it will ever be possible to make progress with this kind of atmosphere.

Nothing I can do about that, so the best possible reaction is to not worry and carry on as best I can.

Pestel, Goave, Mole, back to Grand Goave

Not much I can say as a lot of that time was spent working with the Haitian government, first to try and organize again a Festival of the Sea in Pestel on March 19, 2013, but also to try and use the festival as a launching pad to promote nautical tourism in Haiti and place the country again on the cruising map as a destination.

Mole St Nicolas though was a surprise to me. First of all, there are people there trying to set up welcoming bars, restaurants and hotels for tourists. Second, we found an ideal spot where a few cruising boats could safely stay provided we installed a few moorings. The ground is grassy sand and the anchor finds it very difficult to dig in. Once safely anchored, and although the wind during the day remained at 20 to 30 knots, the protection from the sea is excellent and the boat did not move one inch.

On the way back, I felt that I should have gone west of Gonave island rather then east. The winds were highly unpredictable and changing suddenly from 0 to 30 knots and from following winds to head winds. However, we got safely into Grand Goave shortly before sunrise, in time to get ready for the Friday morning meeting.

Those meetings being at government level, I can't say much about them until it becomes public information.