Grand Cayman to Key West Florida

The three day run from Grand Cayman Island to Key West was mostly uneventful.

Our weather window held true for the most part. A couple of sqwalls blew up along the way adding some excitment to the trip. When we came around the western coast of Cuba and hit the jet stream in The Straights of Florida a couple good 36 MPH wind gusts kicked up the seas to  7 - 8 ft at 7 seconds, a bumpy ride for a few hours. The current pushed us along helping out with the mileage. At 1300 RPM our cruising speed generally stays in the 9 knot range with a 5.2 fuel burn. We managed to fly over the water with help from the currents moving us along at 10.5 knots with a fuel burn in the low 4's.

The flying fish buzzed by us in record numbers and a few jumped aboard to attempt becoming castaways. They leave a dirty blue grey mark on the boat. When we arrived to Key West early, early June 5th we had a lot of salt and flying fish scales to wash off. I rarely appreciate coming into an unfamiliar bay to anchor after dark, but we managed to set the hook and get some much needed sleep before checking into Galleon Marina later that day.

I am always sensitive to noises on the boat, as we made our way north a moan and squeak became more pronounced, but nothing a little grease added to the rudder didn't help.

Key West has been a fun stop with so much to see. Tomorrow we continue on to North Palm Beach to get a few quotes on boat upgrades and possibly a new generator.

Tarpon in the marina. They get the left overs when the fisherman clean their catch of the day. Most are over 4' long with a lot of teeth.

This iguana blended right in while munching on pretty pink blooms

This large Manatee was swiming from boat to boat looking for fresh water. It is difficult to see from this picture, but it weighed around 300 - 400 pounds, it was huge!

There are chickens on the streets here in Key West, Similar to Grand Cayman, We enjoyed them wandering the streets clucking and strutting as they went.

Polly wanted a kiss, but would have preferred a little tounge...

A few Panama Canal photos

Catching up on photo's finally

The crew getting ready for our Panama Canal transit

Please oh please, catch my line...

A celebratory swim in Lake Gatun

The Captain concentrating through the first set of locks.

Getting ready to snuggle up to SpringDay in the Miraflores Locks

Weather to stay or weather to go?

We are heading out on a three day run from Grand Cayman Island to Key West Florida. We’ve consulted with our weather router, Omni Bob and studied the various weather websites. We should have a nice little weather window to travel north, around the east coast of Cuba and into the Florida Keys.

www.buoyweather.com and www.passageweather.com  

Prior to purchasing Anna Mae the agreement was that I would make the decision to travel depending on weather and sea conditions. I am giving a green light to leave this afternoon, with an ETA of Thursday mid day. 

Grand Cayman Island has been a relaxing and interesting place to visit. This was a first for Anna Mae, being tied to a mooring ball. Bill generally doesn’t trust them, unfortunately it was our only option. The reef around the island is protected and anchoring is prohibited. 

Anna Mae has been out of the states for 6 months. we are looking forward to getting back into US waters.

Cayman Islands

A tiny lizard sunning himself in the jungle.

Our neighbors come and go daily.

Hanging with The Blue Iguanas

Yes, I was ready to get up and run if he turned on me...

Naughty Iguanas, not shy at all.

We arrived in The Cayman Islands a couple of days ago and have had such a good time my blogging has taken a back seat. The Port Captain came out and guided us into the harbor. Our experiences arriving at most ports has been a painful and lengthy process. Not in The Grand Caymans. Customs was a breeze too. We are tied to a mooring ball in George Town having a wonderful time.

Today we rented a car and toured the island, taking in several interesting sites.  The Botanical Gardens had many tropical and unique plants along with huge Blue Iguanas. Our lunch stop was Rum Point on the northern section of the island.

Snorkeling is on the agenda for tomorrow. We plan to visit Stingray Sandbar to swim with the stingrays and other various marine life, another day in pariadise.

We have been to Hell and back...

A few pictures to share while I have internet

Caroline our little Kuna friend sailing away.

Isla Providencia, Columbia

Isla Providencia 

Our time on Isla Providencia has been wonderful. With it’s population of only 4,800, this island is a tropical paradise unspoiled by tourism. 

We are anchored in Santa Catalina Harbor, with a beautiful snorkeling site just off of our swim step. The coral reef is amazing with many colorful fish. Morgans head an outcropping of various rocks and amazing snorkel site welcomed us into the harbor. We snorkeled in the clear waters that are dotted with dark caves along the bank. 

Providencia is connected by a low wooden foot bridge off its NW corner to a smaller hilly Isla Catalina. We took the walk through the jungle to the end and enjoyed the view of Morgans Head from the land side. Captain Morgan was a pirate that frequented this area years ago. There are stories of buried treasure on the island. The warm breezes and clear blue waters are treasure enough for me.

This little buy enjoyed my apple core

The cannons that sit on the hilltop of Santa Catalina that protect the point provide cool shade for the many lizards that live here.

We hiked up to “The Point”, a beautiful walk up to a high peak that allows a picturesque view of the island and surrounding Caribbean. It took several hours to work our way to the top. Along the way we encountered many lizards, some a bright blue color. They scamper through the dry leaves as we walked along the trail, making an interesting hike.

The preferred mode of transportation on the island is motor bikes. Last night Bill and I climbed on a  honda 100 with our driver to visit “Rollies”, a fun outdoor night club.  I asked myself more than once on the half hour ride, what the hell am I doing sandwiched between a sweaty kid with dreadlocks and Bill tickling me from behind? We dodged cars, trucks and other crazy cycle drivers on our half hour joy ride. When we arrived to the ocean front bar we danced to Ragaee music around a bonfire with Bob Marley look a likes, and had a wonderful time. Our return trip was even more eventful as we had a obstacle course of crabs to avoid. They migrate into the jungle to mate and then return to the ocean to lay their eggs. Unfortunately for the crabs the paved streets are in their path. Many of the roads are closed in the evenings to allow the crab to migrate without threat of being crushed my vehicles. Our adventure back to the boat was met with many detours and starts and stops and I thought Costa Rica had creative drivers.

Their is another Nordhavn in our anchorage, JASDIP a N47. When I asked John the owner what his boat name represented he smiled and answered, Just another shitty day in paradise... Very well said for The Caribbean, every day is paradise.

Isla San Andres Columbia

The crew of Anna Mae has enjoyed a short stay on Isla San Andres, a small little Columbian Island east of main land Nicaragua. There is a reef that surrounds the eastern side of the island which allows wonderful snorkel opportunities in shallow water with beautiful coral and fish to swim with. The people of San Andres have been friendly. We met a family that took us snorkeling in the reef outside of the bay we are anchored in. I will share more when I have faster internet. We are leaving in the morning to continue our northerly cruise and will stop off at Isla Provincia and then on to The Cayman Islands. We are expecting calm seas for the next few days, I'm keeping my fingers crossed the weather report will continue to smile on us...

Anna Mae and crew in The Cayos De Albuquerque

After a hectic day of trying to clear out of Panama, a taxi ride to Colon and paper shuffling, we set out late on the afternoon of the 16th for our 215NM run to a tiny little island owned by Columbia, Cayos De Albuquerque. 

The water was bumpier than we anticipated. Leaving Shelter Bay, passing through the breakwater into The Caribbean and leaving The Panama Canal behind, the winds bounced around us blowing 25 knots. The wave heights hit up to 9’ averaging around 7’ at 8 seconds, Anna Mae performed flawlessly. 

The captain maintained a positive attitude, his first mate was not much help through the night. I’m glad to have Tom and Susanne on board. Early the next morning I managed to take a few shifts, I am experimenting with motion sickness medication, enough said...

By late afternoon of the 17th we could see our destination in the distance. A large reef surrounds the two islands of Cayos De Albuquerque with a tricky entrance of many shallow areas. One of the Islands is a Columbian military base and the other a small fishing camp. Our VHF radio sounded as we approached. A not so happy Spanish voice expressed in unfriendly terms that we were not welcome, although our Columbian Zarpe and crew list showed that we could drop our anchor in Columbian waters.

Bill and I had our eyes on the charts trying to decide which mapping program was the most accurate,  Nobeltec, Coastal Explorer or Navionics on my IPad. Tom and Susanne gave us hand signals from the bow. Watching the depth sounder made all of us very tense. Continually conversing with the Spanish voice on the VHF that we needed to anchor before the sun set. Attempting to maneuver out of the coral reef in the dark was not an option.

Eventually we found a spot to anchor and repeating No hablo Espanol Senor the gruff Spanish military voice relented and reluctantly allowed us to stay and we settled in for the night. 

We woke the next morning to blue skies, and a visit to The Columbian Military Base on the island. As we approached a very young man with a machine gun approached and escorted us through sandy walkways shaded with palm trees and lined with conch shells. I wanted to scoop up as many as I could, but was afraid that might be frowned upon by our Columbian friend with the machine gun, so I refrained. 

The military base is very primitive. The 20 or so soldiers on the island live in a small building with bunks stacked three high. None of them look to be older than 25 or 30. When they examined our passports, exit papers, Zarpe and crew list from Panama indicating our entry into Columbia they decided all was okay.  Several even smiled and attempted to joked with us. My Spanish isn’t great and Bill’s even worse. Bill was talking with them in his famous Spanglish dialect. They all laughed, I’m sure not with him but at him...

As we walked back to our dingy one of the soldiers knew I had my eye on the conch shells stacked in piles along the bank and lining the walkways. I wish I had a picture, but was told no photos permitted. One of the soldiers got a huge smile on his face and asked me to wait while he got something for me. I thought for sure I was going to add a big beautiful conch shell to my collection.(Cherie you would have been in shell heaven). Instead of the shiny shell I was anticipating he walked out from behind a palm with a live sea turtle and handed it to me. For the time being the shell was forgotten, I was instantly in love with the little turtle. 

Our new crew members.

My first thought was why do you have this little guy and please tell me you don’t eat them? They all laughed, indicated they they helped the turtles as they migrated to the island to lay their eggs. This little guy was about 5 years old. As I was holding him his front flippers slapped at my hands and he stretched his neck toward the water. 

Two of the soldiers asked to come aboard Anna Mae for a tour. The turtle was snuggled in my lap as we all made the short ride dingy ride out to Anna Mae. I petted the turtle behind his head and on his tummy, he was so soft.

After a quick tour of Anna Mae and a few pictures, we filled a bag with drinks and some food the soldiers could share with their buddies. We had a little ceremony when we set our turtle free, he swam away quickly with a smile on his face.

Today we snorkeled off the reefs surrounding the islands, the crystal clear water is beautiful with so many colorful fish and amazing sea life. We saw a large lion fish hanging out in a cave along with a multitude of colorful sea life. 

Anna Mae sits alone in this anchorage, it’s a beautiful area and from the sound of things not many boats are allowed to stay. We visited with a couple of fishermen that showed us their catch of the day. They dive down for conch, lobster and fish the various reefs. Most of them are from Isla San Andres. 

I’m happy to report a couple of additions to my collection, a mini conch and two puffy sand dollars. 

We are happily anchored in a little bay off Isla Andres. We hope to stay a few days and already talked with some locals that want to share a nice snorkel site with us tomorrow.

When my internet signal improves I will share some pictures.

An alarm sounded which always gets my attention...

The damaged culprit 

As we passed through the final lock in our transit through The Panama Canal a nasty and shrill alarm sounded. The hydraulic alarm was complaining that it was showing a low fluid level in the hydraulic tank.

Maneuvering through the locks was difficult at times due to the turbulence and current that came from the change in depths. Bill used our thrusters more than usual to hold our position when the locks opened for our exit. Being tied to the other boats and instructed by the canal captain to exit first it was almost impossible to control Anna Mae without the help of our bow and stern thrusters.

After checking our hydraulic lines and discovering a minor leak, Bill was able to change an o ring fitting that had failed, allowing hydraulic oil to seep out of the line on one of the bow thruster control valves.

A quick change out and we were back in business and the alarm was silent, making us all much happier. Apparently when the o ring was originally installed it had been damaged and with time and wear it failed. I'm so fortunate that Bill is an accomplished problem solver with mechanical issues. Unfortunately, alarms still make me crazy...  

San Blas Island, Panama

The past few days we have spent our time in The San Blas Islands, a large archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean coast. The 340 islands are the home of The Kuna Indians. We have enjoyed the untouched virgin rainforests and a cruising ground of incredible beauty.

Nester and his beautiful Kuna family approached Anna Mae as we anchored out side of Isla Porvenir. We traded various items and they invited us to visit their village.  They cooked us a delicious dinner of fish, rice and beans. 

The Kuna women dressed us up in authentic Kuna clothing.  They painted a black line on our noses and  wrapped us up in their famous authentic mola stitched bodices.  

 

The Crew of Anna Mae and SpringDay with some of the Kuna children in the village we visited.

I found a new home for my Valentine Teddy.
Caroline a sweet little Kuna Indian girl fell in love with it and us with her.
She has so much personality and likes to repeat everything I say back to me in English. I couldn't even begin to communicate with her in Kuna, but I tried and she giggled at me...

Bill and I with Caroline and her new teddy.

Nester gave Bill and Tom a sailing lesson. 

The one log canoe carved from Columbian timber is The Kuna's favorite mode of transportation. Bill had a lot of respect for Nester's ability to manuever his boat, with a paddle and sails.

Nester managed to hop on our SUP and paddle around the boat on his first try. His balance is amazing after all the years of practice he has had on the water.

Taking a photo of a Kuna woman is not allowed, but I did manage to get a couple candid shots.

Bill played basketball on the makeshift court in the middle of the island, next to their school.

We anchored out on several of the islands. The water was clear and I added to a few new shells to my collection. Sand dollars, starfish and conch shells lay littering the coral and white sandy beaches of San Blas. We dove a shipwreck on one of the outlaying islands.

Fishing is a major source of income for The Kuna Indians.

Anna Mae and crew are settled into Shelter Bay to organize and plan the next leg of our journey up to North Carolina.

Panama Canal Transit

The crew of Anna Mae is happy to report a successful transit of The Panama Canal. Our experience was exciting. The day was long and stressful at times along with the thrill we anticipated.

We woke early to arrange our fenders for the transit. The Port Authority told us their pilot would board around 9am. Of course we were excited and anxious to get our day started. Along the way we discovered that they do things on their schedule and the schedule doesn't necessarily get relayed to the boats going through the locks. Hurry up and wait was the motto of the day.

As we approached the Miraflore Locks our pilot informed us that we would be rafting to SpringDay on our port side and SpringDay would be port tied to a tugboat. We frantically changed the fenders from starboard to port at the last minute creating our hearts to race just a bit. We were not anticipating the strong turbulence in the locks as they raised. Bill managed to control Anna Mae in every unexpected situation we encountered.

After transiting the first set of locks we anchored in the lake for 4 hours waiting our transit through the last set of locks, The Gatun locks. We swam in the fresh water, ate dinner and took a short nap.

When our second pilot didn't arrive at the agreed upon time to advise us through the second set we all got a bit nervous. The control station wasn't answering our radio calls and we got a bit more anxious. The freighter that we had been assigned to go through with had raised anchor and started moving toward the locks giving us all a sense of abandonment. Finally at the last minute, in the dark we saw a boat approach first going to SpringDay to drop off their pilot and then to us. Our pilot boarded and informed us we were late and needed to raise anchor and get going quickly, oh and our fenders needed to be moved to the starboard side... We of course ran around in the dark moving fenders, yet again. Our crew knew exactly what to do at this point, thankfully. SpringDay was on the far right side tied to the wall and we rafted to their port side. A huge frieghter snuggled up to our stern. We moved through the locks with no problem. We anchored in The Flats on the Atlantic side around 1am, we all slept well.

Anna Mae and SpringDay going through The Panama Canal

Currently we are at The Shelter Bay Marina enjoying the monkey and resting up for our cruise to The San Blas Islands. We are experiencing a rain shower at the moment that is very impressive and coming form someone that lives in Portland Oregon that is saying something.

I have so many pictures to share, but must wait for better internet access...