Goodbye Carribean Sea Hello Atlantic Ocean

On a Mooring Honey Moon Beach, Water Island, St Thomas USVI

The time has come to roll out of Honey Moon Bay. It's tough, I mean have a look at a typical evening sunset seen from Christa's deck, but I have a weather window to sail north by north west.

My track takes me from St Thomas west by northwest, passed the north coast of Puerto Rico to the southern edge of the Navidad and Silver banks (north of Cabo Samana Dominican Republic), south of Turks & Caicos, where I turn north northwest, pass west of West Caicos to Mayaguana. Total distance is 527 nautical miles. At 5.5 knots should take me about 4 days. Should be a nice run with bale out points of PR, The DR and the Turks & Caicos.

The weather is forecast to be 15 to 20 from the east, with isolated showers and thunderstorms. It would be nice if the wind came around from the east north east to give me a better angle. I may be running very far off the wind. Could give me a chance to try and pole out the jib with my whisker pole, which I've never had the opportunity to use.

So all is well, but a little sad to be leaving behind dear friends. But the future looks great and that cushions the blow. Wish me luck!

Capt Chris

Re-United Again on St John, Aboard Sadie Sea

On a Mooring Honey Moon Beach, Water Island, St Thomas USVI

Life is strange. Take the story of Tom & Amy Larson, me, their sailboat Sandpiper, and now their Charter business on St John, Sadie Sea Charters. I'm not even sure where to begin and fear I may not have the writing skills to make all the connections. But here it goes.

My memory can be a little fuzzy with dates and times, but what follows is the gist. Cica 1999, I had owned Christa for about a year and had just transferred from Lake Tahoe CA to the San Francisco Bay Area. I had just arrived to my new slip at the Travis Sailing Center in Sausalito Ca when I bumped into Tom who had berthed Sandpiper at the same marina. Tom and I were instant amigos yapping about boat stuff and sailing and what not. An abnormal period of time had gone by when we both discovered in a conversation that we both were in the Coast Guard and the same rate and rank. Simply never came up in conversation. That was wild. During this time Tom began wooing Amy Sherman (Now Mrs. Larson and First Mate Amy). Tom worked a phat job on the Pacific Strike Team and traveled all the time and I worked in a Command Center, so we didn't see each other all the time. That all changed  in 2003 when Tom transfered to the ship I was stationed on. Not only were we on the same ship, but still the same rate and rank and now Tom was to take over my division and I moved to the Chief of the Navigation division. Weird. Even weirder that we ended up sharing a two man stateroom. True amigos now.

All the while talk of sailing and retirement permeated. Tom & Amy retired in 2005 sailed west around the planet. I was released from active duty in Oct 2007 and retired February 1st 2008. So it was with great anticipation that Christa and Sandpiper shared the same anchorage in St Lucia in March 2009.

Rewind my life to January/February 2008 and you will find me in Luperon Dominican Republic, with low morale after a shelacking between Turks & Caicos and a blown rear seal on the Yanmar. It was both difficult and thrilling to be in the Dom Rep with all the other cruisers. But replacing the rear seal and ensuring it was done correctly was very stressful. Transmission fluid was still slaying after I had hired a Frenchman to replace the seal. Enter Casey from St John, a younger fellow who was delivering a big Cat to St John. What a champ this guy has turned out to be. I tell him my woes and one day he stops by and says lets pull the coupler apart and see what's going on. Within 15 minutes, with the shaft packing gushing water into the boat, while studying the exploded view in the Yanmar Service Manual, Casey says, "this piece is in backward." What? A couple of turns of the wrench later we were shipshape and testing everything out. He refused any form of payment and just said "pay it forward."

Then Casey says when you get to St John look me up and and I'll introduce you to Ben who owns the Sadie Sea, and needs a relief skipper. At the time I fully intended on getting to St John within a month or so, but that all changed when I plunked down the anchor in Salinas Puerto Rico. That is a whole other saga. So a year or so later I showed up in St John and Casey was true to his word. I ended up running the Sadie Sea for a month or so before that fell through. Again another set of sagas.

But while I was doing my Sadie thing, I had been briefing Tom & Amy on Sandpiper, who were in Gibralter waiting to cross the Atlantic. So they had a clue about the Sadie Sea, but not a big clue. They had plans to head to Charleston and seek some employment or buy a business. But then they fell into the St John orbit. It's strong. They had just arrived and were bar side when they bumped into Ben, owner of the Sadie Sea, not long after Casey came saundering in and the circle was rapidly closing. Tom and Amy bought Sadie Sea last July from Ben and now call St John home.

So yesterday, I took the inter island ferry over to St John and there was Tom & Amy waving on the dock, Sadie sitting on her mooring right next to Sandpiper. So Tom & Amy let me Co- Captain for a reef bay run to the south side of St John to pick up National Park Hikers. Back in the saddle, but not with Capt Ben, but now with Amy and Tom. Like I said life is strange.

Capt Chris

Monday Night Movie Night on the Beach

On a Mooring Honey Moon Beach, Water Island, St Thomas USVI

Water Island is a special place. It sits off of the main island and has no stores and is only assessable by ferry. Most of the residence of the island either have retired to the islands or maintain a winter palace here. It is very organized, with a tight community of which they (the residence) embrace the boaters. One of the best things to experience is movie night. People come from near and far; an islander has a roach coach type of scenario and shows up with viddles and beverages. The kids are all kinds of amped up and it is a really fantastic time. Right as the sun is setting the fellow who runs the movie projector puts on some type of documentary, always followed by Cartoons and then then the feature film. The setting could not be better. I attended last nights festivities and forgot how enjoyable it is.

Onward. I put together a slideshow and loaded it into Youtube. Much of the quality was lost and I'm a bit disappointed. Thought it would be in HD, but not sure what the deal is. Still learning about all the technology. But I decided to post it to blog even though it's less than stellar.



Capt Chris

A Short Video Shot While Underway

On a Mooring Honey Moon Bay, USVI

I put this little doo dad together. I will be working on a longer clip that encompasses more material from my recent sail. Hopefully that Video won't take to long to edit.  Video shot using the Flip HD camera. Enjoy!



Capt Chris

With The Trades, Grenada to St Thomas USVI

On a Mooring Honeymoon Beach, Water Island St Thomas USVI

 What a thrill to have single handed Christa with the trade winds, without interruption for a smooth 450nm. I arrived late yesterday afternoon (Sat) after nearly 4 days at sea. Total distance on this leg was 450.1 nm.  It took me 81 hours with an average speed of 5.5 knots.

Day 1 I hauled up the anchor from my spot outside St Georges Harbor and motor sailed for about a half hour to get outside the huge wind shadow that these Caribbean Islands cast. Pretty soon I had that wonderful thrill of shutting down the motor as the wind filled the sails. The wind stayed about 10-15 knots out of the ENE for the remainder of the day. But, as was the theme for the entire trip, the wind plused up and down repeatedly. This becomes a pain quickly as it knocks the balance of the boat out of whack, which in turn knocks the Monitor Wind Vane out of whack. Essentially the boat become over or underpowered causing the vane to meander all over the place. This is fine on a day sail, but over a period of days, could tack on many more miles than necessary. So I was up and down up and down trimming the sails or more often than not, reefing.

Sunset is always a big deal to me. I spend the last few moments of the waning light to check on the rig and gear stowage. You'd be surprised at how many screws or shackles and thing like that rattle loose. I pay particular attention to lifelines. As a general practice I do not wear a harness when skulking around the deck. In heavy weather, you bet, but during normal conditions I don't. I don't make a habit out of leaning on, or evening grabbing ahold of the lifelines, I try to stay inboard and use installed handholds to grapple around. But, in the event I do loose balance and lean into the lifelines, it is paramount that all the pins, mousings, gates and whatnot are secured. My lifelines are oversized and have no plastic coating over them for the specific purpose of being easily inspected for corrosion. The downside of that is you'll loose some hair on your legs. With the inspection complete and satisfactory, the navigation lights energized, I'll usually enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the sun sink. The beauty sometimes is so shocking and the sun always sets quickly and before you know it, it is pitch black and your left with little night vision. I had the benefit of a full moon the whole time. The moon took its sweet time to rise, usually two hours after the sunset, so I enjoyed the in your face stars before the moon removed the planetarium. Not to be disappointed as the moon puts on its own show.

Day 2 dawned with the obvious sign of squalls all over the place. The airmass had become a little more saturated. This was not a surprise as I was expecting squally weather pretty much the whole trip. Thursday was a tough day. You see as a single hander you get little sleep. So by day two I was feeling the fatigue starting to set in, but really no time to sleep because about every two hours Christa would become engulfed in monster squalls. Some with substantial wind, but most without, but all with great deluges of water. It is a reefing flail Ex when you see a squall approaching and sometimes your reefing when the wind is already upon the boat. Reefing a full jib, or winding the whole thing in and then heading up on deck to reef the main become very tiring as it take alot of brute strength, compounded by doing it alone. To add to this, my hands had become soft during my leisure filled summer and were not ready for the abuse of trimming sail under strain and generally sail work. Consequently I formed instant blisters. No problem, let me go get my gloves. Wuups, I don't have any!  After each squall there would be no wind at all, and we'd bounce and flap around for about 15 minutes and I'd start to get paranoid. "Man I'm going to be becalmed for days"! I'd think about the movie Dead Calm, but then, a breath, and then a breeze and then a big ole whaahoo and we be back at it. I always felt jazzed after we'd come through a squall. But by night fall Thursday evening, the squalls had let up and I was really feeling tired. The boat and wind were steady and I slept for 4 hours or more before awaking at 3 am with a start.

Friday was day 3 underway and it was beautiful, no squalls and clear blue skies, a easy sea and all systems were G.  The wind went very light for a few hours in the afternoon, which gave me a chance to fly the Cruising Spinnaker. The thing is a big monster of a sail, and again can be a challenge as a single hander. I'm pretty good at setting it now and the operation went off without a hitch. I do have to go up on the bowsprit which I don't like doing alone on the boat, but that is the deal. The trick is you really have to watch the wind, if it pipes up things can get out of control very rapidly. Things never did get out of hand, but the wind did fill in quickly and before I knew it, Christa was smoking at almost 7.5 knots, well beyond her designed hull speed. You can just tell when the boat is over powered and she was. To strike, I head almost down wind, and let the main sail block most of the wind in the spinnaker to relieve the pressure in the sail and move forward to douse the sail before the boat starts to round up.

The next day, Saturday was also lovely and just as the sun was rising I could make out St Croix. I worked the boat as usual and had the anchor down at Honey Moon Beach by about 4 pm. To be met by Kristopher and Rebecca from Wandering Dolphin and get this, a full on modeling photo shoot happening on the rocks and beach that surround the anchorage. Topless models everywhere, it was difficult to focus on the great Tacos that Becky made! I was lockin up!

 

On a side note. Many of the blog followers may recall I love Sirius Sat Radio. It enhances life aboard greatly. Last February I was distraught when I lost the signal between the BVI's and St Maarten. So the last thing I did ashore in Grenada was to re-activate my subscription with the hopes of picking up programming around St Croix. Well just before I sailed Weds morning while firing up my navigation gear I just happened to toggle on the Sirius receiver to make sure it was ready to go and poof! I had crystal clear Sat Radio all the way down in Grenada. Man was I jacked! This was just the good omen I was looking for. I believe when Sirius merged with XM that things got giggered in such a way that the signal goes much farther than advertised. Bam!

It was a great trip, if not tiring. I wanted to do a special thank you and shout out to Wandering Dolphin who provided me with daily weather via text on my Sat phone. Even though it is late in the hurricane season it still is the season. And wouldn't you know it Hurricane Ida spooled up while I was underway. Having the information is a great comfort.

I have video footage that I will edit and put together and load to Youtube and the blog. Keep a sharp eye for that and I've loaded all the latest pics from this trips to my photo album. Just click the link to the right.

Capt Chris

PS: Thanks for all the well wishes I get. I really appreciate that folks take the time to read the blog, comment and correspond. Thank you!

My General Track To Florida

On Assignment in Central Florida
1 day until Grenada
8 days until Christa's scheduled re-launch

 Plans are always set in jello. My first leg is from Grenada to St Thomas, just shy of 500 nautical miles. For planning purposes I use a speed of five knots of advance, so about 120nm every 24 hours. Should be a wonderful passage and I hope to bug out from Grenada soon after launch.

 I likely will pre-stage from St Thomas to Culebra, just 25 nm west of STT. Then another 3 to 5 day passage to either the Turks & Caicos or the southern Bahamas. Once in the Bahamas, I'll hop from island to island to Miami and then down the Keys. From the Keys it's a 90nm sail to Naples, where I'll base out of for the winter.


View Grenada to Florida in a larger map


Capt Chris

Summer Movie

On Assignment in Williamstown MA
18 Days until Grenada
Bound for NYC tomorrow

I've been hard at work learning Apple iMovie and using my new Flip HD camera. I'm now dangerous with this equipment. It should be good fun filming sailing this year. Please stay tuned.

To watch in full screen mode just click on the button next to "HQ" on the video slide. Please don't be shy about comments or rating the post.

Thanks!

Capt Chris

The Southern Edge

Anchored St Davids Harbor
Southern Coast of Grenada
12.01.00N 061 40.05W




I arrived on Tuesday June 16th after a short, but painful motor sail from St Georges harbor. This is as far south as I intend to go. Christa will be hauled out on the 29th and set ashore, in a hurricane cradle. What is a hurricane cradle vis-a-vis a regular cradle? I'll provide a picture once Christa is in the cradle and let the pic tell the story. But in normal fashion, and I guess it is par, that my last seven miles were straight into the teeth of the trades. You may recall when I sailed from Carriacou I tried mightily to sail down the eastern shore of Grenada to prevent the aforementioned seven mile beat to windward. But I failed and ended up in St. Georges Lagoon, which in hindsight turned out to be for the best, even though I had the recent tough sail. St Davids really is deep in a valley far from the conveniences of the main town of St Georges. I'd go nuts spending a month or more in St Davids.


Above is a picture of Christa's current spot on the planet, taken from atop an abutment at a small resort called the Bel Air Plantation that overlooks the harbor. The anchorage is open to the south and when the wind swings around to the southeast, as it does frequently this time of year, the boat starts to roll. But, thus far it hasn't be out of hand. I will spend the next couple of weeks getting Christa ready for long term storage. Some of the items to attend to are, change the main engine oil, strip the sails, strip and wash canvas, winterize the Honda 2000, same for the outboard, strip as much rigging as possible. Generally get the boat hurricane ready, just in case. I'll also try and pre-stage some things to make life easier when I return.


So what do I do all day? I know many wonder and it can some times be a tough question to answer. As some many know I plan on using the the GI Bill to complete college. I've been shocked at the amount of effort and planning such a transition entails. But that is what I have been doing. Submitting applications, working on personal statements, crunching dollars, checking time lines, thinking about the downside and generally doing some soul searching. Since I plan on using the new Post 9/11 GI Bill, just being rolled out, it has taken many Skype calls and research to digest what is happening. I even did an interview with the LA Times regarding California and how the new bill and California school systems are not meshing well. It can be very confusing and critical for me to understand the bill before I make any big moves, such as sailing back to Florida and trucking Christa to California, only to find the GI Bill will not cover the tuition. Wouldn't want that kind of Wuups. But I should know what I'm doing by September. So that's it for now from Grenada.


Capt Chris


PS: Don't forget that you can double click on the image to expand out. Also have a gander at my Picasso Photo Album and Youtube videos

Short Video of Marigot Bay

Okay, The Plan

Anchored Tony Gibbons Beach Admiralty Bay, Bequia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
13 00.6'N 061 14 4'

Still in Bequia. The seasonal weather pattern is starting to transition into a more summertime feel. The past week we've experienced rain and squalls which is not the winter time norm. Looks like I may stay for another week as a tropical wave/trough feature is going to enter the eastern Caribbean, bringing with it stronger squalls and rain. My anchor his good and buried in the sand just off Tony Gibbons beach and I'd rather visit the beautiful Tobago Cays National Park just to the south in clear and stable weather. Now the picture was taken by Team Adamo leaving Rum Cay in the Bahama out islands in January 2008. Seems like a lifetime ago. But to fully appreciate the photograph just double click on the image to expand it full on.

In terms of the upcoming hurricane season I batted around the idea of heading to Puerta La Cruz Venezuela and mooring in one of the beautiful high end marina's that encompass Puerta La Cruz. I crave marina side living and I really wanted to do some inland travel to visit the Northern Andes Mountains and Angel Falls. Plus PLC is totally safe from a hurricane strike. I've decided against going to Venezuela due to the chaotic nature of Huge Chavez and the lack of any kind of consistant information pertaining to safety in Venezuela. Many many people visit and stay in Venezuela without incident and then others say be careful and others say forget it. The U.S. State Department website said that the VZ Gov't has never solved a murder. I can't get accurate information on how much the marina will cost because it is the topic no one talks about, kind of like marine heads as money is exchanged on the black market. I'm advised to bring mucho American dollars as the black market exchange rate is so good I could stay in a high end resort marina for $200 USD. Ok so maybe this is why poor fisherman turned pirate hit cruising boats as they know "mucho" cash is onboard to feed the corrupt beast. I refuse to feed the corrupt beast and besides I haven't bought a drop of Citgo gas since 2004 because I can't stand Chavez and his politics. Even though the natural beauty of VZ is a serious turn on and I do like aspects of the latin culture, I'm not Dirk Pitt on one of Clive Cusslers NUMA capers. What a shame.

Trinidad is out. The murder rate is close to the highest in the world. So Grenada of Heartbreak Ridge fame is my choice. And it is an excellent one. Although hurricane wise it is pretty safe, but not totally. On average it gets hit once every 50 years or so. But it got slammed in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan. Ivan devastated the island. But the law of averages is on my side. Plus this year I am going to haul Christa out of the water at Grenada Marine and put her in a hurricane cradle system. The mack daddy of protection. So not only will I have the law of averages on my side, in the event of a strike I have the highest of protection. But wait, Grenada Marine fared very well during Ivan due to geography and as of May 1st 2009 I will have insurance! Maybe I never wrote about that, but I have been cruising without insurance, but no more. So I plan to haul Christa sometime in mid July and then head back to the states.

I have all kinds of travel plans and activities planned for my time in the states. I generally will be gone from Christa from around my birthday (July 20) to the last week in October. I'll return and get Christa ready to splash. It will be good to get Christa's hull out of the water to dry out. I'll save my plans for summer travel for another day. I'll jump to post 2009 hurricane season plan.

Sometime in late November or early December 2009 I'll leave Grenada and head rapidly back to Florida. The reasons are many and complex. I'll do my best to explain where my head is. First off I have no plans to sell Christa nor have I given up the goal of sailing further around the planet. One thing I have given up on is doing it alone. From the companionship standpoint, cruising in a boat really is something that should be shared. Pretty simple. From the aspect of management of the boat, having a first mate clearly is an advantage. I'm not just talking about sailing, but more from shopping, getting supplies and all the issues that flow from leaving one port and headed for the next. Sailing a boat, contrary to popular opinion is a lot of work especially long term. Please don't get me wrong I do not hate what I am doing and I am not exceedingly lonely. But I do miss my family and friends terribly. Another point on the solo sailor aspect. Ask anyone who has spent sometime on the water in foreign ports who have met long term singlehanders and they will tell you they are a different breed at best and downright weird at worst. You see them all wrinkled and old, sitting cross legged smoking a pipe on a well worn boat with "anti social" stamped on their forehead. To each his own, but I don't want that. But their are others pressing reasons as to why I'd stop sailing for awhile next year. And here it is......

I am stagnating intellectually. To the folks who may be grinding it out in traffic daily or reading this in their cubicle instead of working I do apoligize. But it feels like I am on permanent vacation to a certain extent and each beautiful beach and anchorage is blending into the next. I'm now leaping to the next island not with the intense desire to see next port but simply because I need to get south for hurricane season. For example my next stop Salt Whiltle Bay is supposed to be one of the most beautiful bays on the planet, but if you woke up on Christa and checked my vista of Tony Gibbons Beach you'd think why leave here? And so it is on most places I stop. I have the routine wired and the challenge of sailing single handed is now becoming a choir. My learning curve has leveled off. I found in my Coast Guard carrer the same mental pattern I am experiencing now so what is rattaling around in my head is not new. In a 3 or 4 year tour, my first two years would be great as I learned the job and put my stamp on what I was doing. My last 12 to 18 months of a tour was a slogg. In other words I intelluatually stagnated. The sole expection of this was my tour on CGC Washington (WPB 1331) of which I spent four years. But the difference was the command never let me stagnate. I learned just about every job on that ship. So something else has come up. And here it is.

The Post 911 GI Bill. This is the new and much improved college education program passed by Congress last year and will take effect this coming August. The benefit is simply to good to pass up. Generally the bill provides for full tuition in the state your a resident of plus between $1500 and $2000 for housing. In my humble opinion the benefit is so good that at some point the government will start to chip away at it. I'd rather get in while the getting is good. I've submitted an application to Dominican University of California just north of San Francisco for the fall of 2010. I love it out in California and still own an investment house in Sonoma which needs some attention. So the plan would be to live aboard Christa, go to school and work on rebuilding my house. I likely would go for a Master's with a focus toward becoming a teacher. Due to complicated funding associated with the GI Bill I may not be able to attend in California. In this event I'll do the same thing but attend school in Florida. So you can see that I am in a win win situation.

So where does this leave me nautical wise? I really don't know. But someday I will likely do more long term sailing, my love for the ocean is clearly not diminshed. But please don't stop following the blog, I still have between now and July to cover down to Grenada and then a very full summer of adventure and even then a trip back to the states. So plenty of action, commentary, pictures and videos ahead. Maybe this blog will morph into something else. Who knows? Any questions please ask.


Capt Chris

Sandpiper Renunion!

S/V Christa
Anchored Rodney Bay
St Lucia Island
Caribbean Sea
14’05.1N/60'57.6W

With much fanfare and a surreal bizarre feeling I blasted out in the dingy to meet Tom & Amy from Sandpiper. They rounded the point and through the bino's Sandpiper lines were obvious. Just like old times, it is as if I had just waved goodbye to them. So I shot this picture just as I was making my approach to Sandpiper and of course Tom was doing the exact same thing as me. True Amigos!

So Sandpiper is anchored just in front of Christa. We spent whole day sitting aboard Sandpiper and eating. It was and is wonderful. Right now Tom and I are having some breakfast ashore while Amy takes care of stuff aboard ship. Listening to her new favorite band, "Busy Signal" awaiting our return. After breakfast it will be a beach day for all hands. More later!

Capt Chris

Bound For Puerto Rico

At Sea and bound for Puerto Rico.

 I will try and stop belly aching about these Dominican Cape's that we have to negotiate. Plus if things keep going smooth, Team Chrisa may be in Puerto Rico tomorrow. So anyway, once again I update you via my Sat Phone.  Yesterday we dropped anchor in Rio San Juan with the following sailboats. Hearts Desire, Snark, Irese and Ultima Noche. Jerry Juggs were jugged into town and all hands topped up on fuel. I now have  the distinct pleasure of having a crew. So Tony and Laura were dispatched to   gather Christa's fuel. I stayed aboard and caught up on sleep, checked the engine and her fluids, downloaded some weather and reviewed the navigation plan.

About 7pm the wind just died as it usually does in a harbor. You see that is the rub. You can have a total calm at anchor but just a scant mile away one of the dreaded Cabo's (Capes) can have 20 knots and blistering (relative of course) seas. We all felt pretty good about 9:30pm and so we left.   But......in true fashion we had a hitch or two. I went to crank the engine and heard the starter click click click. I believe I have a  "dead spot" somewhere in the starter. I have had the click before but then after one or two she turns over. Last night not so. I pulled out an old trick and tapped the side of the starter and she fired. But now I was behind the 8 ball as the other boats were leaving. So I started hauling the anchor and wouldn't you know it, the hook was snagged and I mean good. I'll spare all hands the gory details, but in short I left my 45LBS CQR and 200 feet of 3/8 on the bottom. That should set me back $700 big one's. My only alternative was to stay the night and hire a diver from somewhere as the hook was in 30 feet of water and I can't free dive that. This would have knocked out the window for Puerto Rico plus separation from the fleet. I decided to take the hit. Once underway we immediately started to round a monster Cape named Cabo Francis. It was blowing, bumpy and uncomfortable but nothing like two nights ago leaving Luperon. That was the worst. I   love the Dominican Republic and would very much like to explore the island more, but I have had it with the north coast sailing. I'll will be happy to leave it behind and as I gaze off to starboard I am doing just that. I pretty much just rounded the last Cape and am very shocked and pleased to report a dead calm! Beautiful. I say pretty much because now my trackline gradually distances me off the coast  into the Mona Passage. The north point of Hour Glass Shoal is 76 nm away and according to the GPS we should there in 14 hours or so. This is an area were the water is about 100 feet or so but is butts up to the Puerto Rican Trench which is the second deepest spot on the planet. Of course the Marinas Trench being the first. My point is it can be nasty with the huge volumes of water and it's associated energy being dispersed onto the shoal. We will give it a wide berth indeed.

So onto my crew members. The night before I was leaving Luperon I was at the computer at Capn Steve's restaurant taking can of business. I strike up a conversation with the fella next to me. Tony tells me he and his friend Laura came to the DR just a few days ago to backpack around and stay in the many hostels here. So they rub up against all the sailors in Luperon waiting to move east and they mention they would be interested in going on a jaunt. I tell him I am keen on finding some help moving Christa to PR. He says he is interested and that he and Laura would discuss it and sleep on it. Next day they said they would like to come along. Viola, just like that. We had to do some fancy dancing with Immigration as they came via aircraft and are leaving on a boat. Confusion abound, but of course a "gift" got things situated. They both are from Bar Harbor Maine and have some boating experience. Laura is 22 and Tony is 26. They are responsible and mello and am very glad to have them aboard. We haven't spent alot of time talking as a low grade exhaustion has set in on us all. So when not on watch we all spend time trying to sleep.

Currently Christa is motor sailing on a port tack at 5 knots with about a 5 to 8 knot breeze but a bit of a sloppy sea. The forecast for the next two days is close to stellar. Apparently the Atlantic High has been pushed far far south and may even be sitting right over us. This has/will cause the trades to stay very light out of the ESE. Tony and Laura are splayed out on deck marveling at the 82 degree weather and the blue sea that surrounds us. Lets not forget they were in Maine less than a week ago. SPF 45 is flowing. I am perched in my  blue chair tapping away and taking it all in. Am pleased and really   looking forward to getting this difficult passage over with. My best  guess is we will be in Mayagueze on the west coast tomorrow afternoon or evening. Please keep Team Christa in your thoughts and prayers.

Capt Chris