Nov. 26 HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We were more than ready for a nice break. We really do have much to be thankful for! This was the 5th year the VFW Ladies Auxiliary put on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. There were about 120 people...20 of them our new cruising or expat friends. The history of the holiday, along with Obama's Thanksgiving proclamation, and leading prayers were welcome.
We've been dealing with the reality that we've been using many more amps than we've been replacing with our current charging system. We nursed our three lead acid house batteries back to health, and bought a new starter battery. We have been revamping our charging system...hence going over our wiring and changing quite a bit to make it a more simple/user friendly system that we'll understand. Changing from AGM to lead acid has also been a learning adventure. Our friend Rick has been very patient helping us through this and teaching us once again what sometimes doesn't sink in the first time. Getting down to the nitty gritty cell health using a refractometer is just one more item to be stored in the 'ol brain.
We hope all our family and friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving....you are in our thoughts!
The picture is taken from the yacht club resturant of the anchorage...just the section where Infini's moored

Nov. 13 HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY MATT!!

Special family events still tug at our heart strings when we know we're not able to be there to share in person. Modern communication tools have made such a big improvement for the cruiser...but we're still adjusting to the fact our family thrives and flourishes without our physical presence. Perhaps it's because we're still working on major projects and have not yet departed on our long awaited passages, expected early 2010. So, Happy Birthday, Matt, and enjoy a wonderful, safe, healthy, and challenging year full of joy and satisfaction! We're thinking of you and send our love your way....and yes we need a current picture of you without your dreads!

Nov. 1, 2009

We're back at the Balboa Yacht Club after spending the night at Contadora where the only other boat anchored was a friend we had met in Cartegena! Paul has been to Costa Rica and down to Peru in the last year. He has a fast catamaran.....some folks move around a lot....others like us take our time! Paul was one of the three single handers (all bald!) we did our one night of 'clubbing' with. It was good to see him at Contadora and swap stories. As to Infini,we've installed an aluminum 'rain frame' around two of our solar panels that will work as a rain catcher. The rain awning we use now over the foredeck can only be used when the dinghy isn't stored there, so this can be used anytime. We've still got a work list, but things are coming along...Michael has a dentist appointment to get his permanent crown put in; Sue will get an MRI of her knee, which is feeling a bit better but the stability/strength isn't there. She misses swinging from the rigging. We need to sew the leech of the roller furling jib as the sacrificial cover needs restitching from sun exposure. We'll get some advice on our engine driven refrigeration unit which is a bit low on freon and has moisture in the system. We've not been running it much lately, and it hasn't been really inspected/gone thru since we put it in over 4yrs. ago. The weather has been wonderfully pleasant....cool nights with partly sunny days and occasional rain.

October 22, '09

Espiritu Santo,

We're back in the Perlas Islands. We left the Balboa Yacht Club and sailed in squally weather to Contadora Island. Motoring is necessary so often that we were happy to sail in any weather! We spent one night at one of the northern anchorages of Contadora, and motor sailed down to Espiritu Santo the next morning in more rain but little wind. Along the way we caught a 3' mahi mahi, so all in all things are looking good! Now to try out our new fishing gear we bought for dinghy trolling. We did score a big one like this....it must be in the snapper family...our books don't positively identify it. And we'll let Sue's knee heal (she crashed it on a slippery curb while doing errands in town after our weekly breakfast of Dim Sam at the Lung Fung Resturant!)
N08deg25min,W078deg51min

October 9, 2009

Life at BYC has been interesting! The windlass has been completely taken apart, rebuilt and reinstalled. We've had our routine dentist and dermatologist visits, and finished our dodger-bimini rain 'window'. M is still working on the refridgerator condenser blockage. We've decided to spend more time in Panama then Ecuador, so we'll get back out to the Perlas Is. for another visit. We've also updated our Picassa web album pictures.

Sept. 23, 2009

We moved to a mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club after one night at the anchorage, where we dragged in a squall. Michael was not feeling well, and Sue was going to be in FL for a week....hence the move to a 'new' place for us. The mooring field is close to the Bridge of the America's and about a couple of hundred yards off the canal. The shipping traffic is constant, as are the work/ACP pilot boats. Not the most calm place, but convenient to taxi or bus to town. They don't have a dinghy dock, but provide a launcha service to pick up or drop you off at your boat. Sue went to Miami to pick up our extended stay visas for French Polynesia, but being so close to kids, made a trip to Orlando and New Port Richey. Michael tackled a list of projects....even completing a few! We've met more expats who are willing to share local knowledge and show us around....time is flying by.
(Infini is by the stern of the freighter)
For info on BYC: http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Panama/Balboa

Sept. 10 Back to Amadore Las Brisas

Wow, a week at Espiritu Santo went fast. After getting the engine running again, we tackled the sewing project of a rain 'window' to go between our dodger and bimini. So far so good for amateurs; we fit the complex compound curved piece with zippers (above)and twisties (into the hard dodger). Now just the 'window' part needs to be cut out. It was the first time we used the hand crank option on our Sailrite machine. The stitches look better than if we used the 110!
We enjoyed celebrating Wolfgang's (Lumme) birthday aboard Sea Fury, with a pizza party, and homemade cakes by Ute. Too much food! Grace and BatWing were also there. Dominoes and farkel were played. We left the next day for our 12mi. run to Contadora, then on to the mainland, a 35 mile run. We'll have to pickle our water maker again, as the water isn't clean enough to run it. We've been enjoying fresh fish, as our luck has changed and we've caught a few. We won't talk about the ones that got away!..The whale watching is also a good time passer, and the books we exchange are getting read.
The picture was taken at one of our 'trash burns' on the beach....'hanging out'
N08deg55minW079deg31min

Espiritu Santo Sept. 4

After spending 3 days trying to fix an engine problem at Isla de Cana, (a beautiful protected bay with a waterfall...a great place to celebrate Sue's birthday, but a serious encounter with no see ums!), we got towed about four miles to this beautiful island by Roger & Norma on Sea Fury. They and few other cruisers helped us trouble shoot why we had no salt water flow; and after removing literally every hose from the seacock onwards, removing the oil cooler and heat exchanger to clean them out, changing the alternator belt, removing, inspecting and changing the impeller in the salt water pump...still no flow! Hmmm. As it turns out, Infini has a bypass valve allowing salt water to circulate thru the condenser for the engine driven refrigeration system. We turned the valve, allowing water to flow directly from the salt water pump to the oil cooler, thereby bypassing the condenser, and all's well. It took days to figure all that out! Cleaning out the obstruction in the condenser will be left for another time, as we have a 12 volt reefer unit to cool the boxes we use daily, and don't use the engine driven system that often anyway. At any rate, there are about 5 other cruising boats here, and the fish are abundant. We now appreciate why this is one of the 'favorite' anchorages in the Perlas Islands. Whale sightings continue, and the daily squalls are allowing our water tanks to stay topped off. N08deg25min, W078deg51min