A Little History

Moored Naples Florida

Tony Naples, yup that's his name, contacted me via Facebook. Fairly amusing given that I'm now living in Naples. But not to get off track.

Tony and his friend Laura, both in their twenties, sailed with me the 56 hours from Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico back in February of 2008. You can read all about that trip by clicking here.

Tony's going to write up a guest blog entry regarding his experience sailing with Christa and the gaggle of boats who all were caravaning together at the time. We look forward to that post. In the mean time he has sent me the following pictures that he shot during the trip. Great pics! Enjoy!

Regarding Comments. I love them! So please leave them. However, to prevent spam comments, of which I get many, I now have to authorize each comment. So you may not see the comment post automatically. 

The Kid

Tony and the Kid

Christa Anchored in Boquero PR

Ms. Laura on Watch Mona Passage

Ensenada Dakity Anchorage

Here is an aerial view of Christa's current position, located behind a wonderful barrier reef. The anchorage has multiple free moorings put in by the Department of Natural Resources and is clearly a favorite of most cruisers. I moved out to the anchorage a couple of days ago. I don't have to rave about how beautiful it is, the picture tells the story. I spent a couple of hours yesterday in "big blue" which is my kayak. As an aside, I could have an entire separate blog for "big blue", which has seen its share of adventure. Both with and without me. Anyway it was a very calm and peaceful morning and I simply skulked along the reef and shoreline. Critters abound in this sparely populated part of the island.

To get to town is a little bit of a to do. It is about a 30 minute brisk walk one way. So what most cruisers do is simply spend a few days out at the reef and go back to town in the big boat for a few days to resupply. It would be a very easy pattern for me to fall into. But.....

A very calm few days are in store for the next few days in the NE Caribbean. I plan on taking advantage to make some easy easting. It already has been 8 days since I arrived in Culebra. Tomorrow mooring I plan on slipping the mooring for the 20 mile jump to St. Thomas USVI where I'll spend some time and then it is onto St. Johns USVI. I likely will spend a month or more in St. Johns as I await the arrival of Janina in December.

Have a nice day!

Capt Chris

Broke Suction. Rolling!

Anchored Puerto Pattilla, south east coast Puerto Rico

Ahoy. I weighted anchor from Salinas PR yesterday morning and > made my way 6 miles to an anchorage adjacent to the Jobos mangrove > system to pre-stage myself prior to heading into the Caribbean Sea > early this morning. During the short transit to my pre-stage > anchorage I ran up the Yanmar to full power and ran most of the > other systems, raised sail (first time in 8 months) and pretty much > ensured that I had no weaknesses. I'm happy to report that Christa > ran strong and all systems are G. I am also excited to report that > the Burton Family aboard Wandering Dolphin of Rudyard Montana joined > me in the anchorage at sunset last night. They also were struggling > to break the ties from Salinas. It's wonderful to caravan with > another boat. > > Our original plan was to sail our the Boca de Inferno inlet at > sunset last night and sail all night and hopefully make the west end > of Vieques Island by sunrise. But the forecast was for 13 to 18 > knots on the nose of course and a 8 to 9 foot long period north > swell. That large north swell could make some areas of transit > tricky as the north facing beaches are predicting max 16 breakers. > It was not worth it as the forecast is improving greatly over the > next couple of days. So instead Wandering Dolphin and I weighted > anchor by 5 am and made an easy, pleasurable trip 17 miles east to > the little fishing village on the SE point of PR. The trip was easy > with no strain in early morning calm. We watched a wonderful sunrise > as we motor sailed at 5 knots. We had the anchor down by 8:30 am > right off the beach. It is very picturesque. Palm trees line the > beach with towering green mountains in the backdrop. Beautiful. > > So the current plan is to rest here all day and weight anchor about > 8pm and make the 30 mile or so sail to Vieques. If the conditions > are nice as expected and were making good time we may decide to go > the extra 20 miles to Culebra where I plan on spending two or three > weeks before moving to St. Thomas/St. John USVI, St. Thomas is only > 20 miles east of Culebra. > > More later. > > > Capt Chris >

Going to try and Break Suction

Well my time here in Salinas is coming to an end. I'm hoping to make the 60 mile jump Sunday and to Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands. In terms of weather it is the usual mix bag. I am very very happy to report the tropics are quiet and no models forecast any type of hurricane formation. So were happy about that. On the other hand, it is the usual story where I need to move at night when the trades are at there lightest...one hope. I will continue to motor sail to windward really until I get to the Virgin Islands. One more 80 mile hop from the Virgins to St. Maarten in a couple of months and then I truly start to trade wind sail in earnest.

Well I'm going to go for an evening run before the sunsets and I will finish this post when I can or I may do another blog entry. I have some thoughts on Salinas and my nearly eight months here.

Capt Chris

Picture of Operation Spyder In

This picture was taken from Christa's bow the morning after Omar passed by. You see Maaktare, another Westsail32 just like Christa and further on is Wandering Dolphin. You can get a sense of what it means to be lashed into the mangroves. Their really is two methods. In my opinion the tactic that gives you the best chance to survive is to use the method all three of us used. The rub is that few spots exist where you can use the preferred method which is to suspend the boat in the center of a narrow channel. You can see lines leading from the boat in all directions to the roots of the mangroves and the boat is stripped of all sails and canvas and anything that would create resistance to the wind. But the second methods is to jam the bow into the mangrove and deploy anchors off the stern. This method seems just fine to me but could be a problem if the wind is astern or from the side which could drive you straight into the mangroves. This is the beauty of the mangroves. If the boat does get driven into the mangroves, little damage would be done, maybe some cosmetic damage but nothing serious. But I clearly prefer the middle channel deal. This is why I move earlier which provides me with the best spot and plenty of time to tie in properly. Plus truth be told, I like it in the mangroves. As you can see it is beautiful, just a little warm with bugs. Not a problem for me for an extended period of time. I wouldn't want to spend a month in the mangroves, but a few days is fine. Anyone who places comfort as a core value wouldn't do so well.....in fact anyone who places comfort above all else would not do well as a cruiser. One must have a high tolerance. So that's that.

Capt Chris

Yikes!

Here is a sat photo of Omar as it spins north east to the NE Caribbean islands. I didn't have the graphics available while in the mangroves. And I guess I'm glad I didn't as that is a scary looking storm. You can see the bulk of the energy to the north east of the eye.

Capt Chris

A Close Call But a Non-Event

All is well aboard the good ship Christa. Hurricane Omar passed about 70 to 80 miles to the south and east of my position here in the Jobos. Amazingly enough we had no wind and no rain. Here is my speculation. Tropical Storm force winds extended out to 115 miles from Omar's center. But upper level winds were pushing all the energy to the eastern side of the the storm, so 115 miles measured to the east. I was on the northwest side. I am not bummed in the least that I did all this work to lash Christa in for not. What needs to be noted is how close a shave it was. Omar reached Cat 3 status and racked across the Virgin Islands. I'm sure extensive damage was done as few hurricane holes are to be had. But a very small shift to the left and we would have experienced the full brunt. Although I am sure Christa and company would have weathered the storm fine, still the destruction ashore would have been a real pain. Last hurricane to hit the south coast caused power outages that was not restored for 3 months. That would have made my last few days in PR a real pain. So today has been spent removing all the chafe gear and removing and stowing lines. Another boat ran aground at high tide, so I spent an hour or so helping them kedge off. Some tense moments for all hands. All in all this has been a positive experience. The water here is much less salty which is killing all the growth on the bottom which will make cleaning the bottom much easier. Not to mention the Jobos is a wildlife refuge and is as unspoiled as it gets. But the bugs are significant. So tomorrow I'll head back to Salinas and regroup and make preps to start cruising again. Wahoo!

Capt Chris

Lashed to the Mangroves

Yesterday morning it became very clear that the disturbance that has been on the my radar for awhile took a turn to negative town. Amazingly enough a tropical low that is now Tropical Storm Omar stopped its westerly advance, stalled and is now forecast to turn around and head northeast toward Puerto Rico. The last time this happened was in 1999 when "left handed Lenny" did the same thing and whacked the Virgin Islands. So after we gained some clarity, myself and another Westsail32, Maktare and Wandering Dolphin with the Burton Family minus Christopher headed out of Salinas harbor. Wandering Dolphin had some excitement as they ran aground. This caused some delay, but Rebecca was able to extract WD from the mud. Maktare and I made the 6 mile trip to the Jobos without incident. As I have mentioned before the mangrove system is stellar protection from the elements. Within the mangroves, Christa, Maktare and Wandering dolphin are situated in a creek like feature that is about 60 feet wide with about 8 foot of water under the keel. Each boat has lines, anchors and chains spidered in all directions that are tied or hooked to the mangroves. Sails have been stripped and stowed and the same goes for canvas. It is a big job to get set up properly. I was a bit stressed yesterday as it seems when all kinds of uncertainties revolve around these system ie will it develop and which direction will it go, cause all kinds of problems for me. Sometimes it is very difficult to know what the right move is or maybe no move is the move. But as soon as we decided to move I began to relax and once we got positioned in one of the best spots I became positively subdued. I slept like a rock last night as tonight should be the same.

So Tropical Storm Omar as of this evening is just 4 knots below a Cat 1 hurricane. Current track keeps shifting further south and east of my position which is good. However it appear that Omar is going to be much more powerful than initially forecast. Some models have it reaching Cat 2 status as it reaches the Virgin Islands early Thursday morning. This means the closet point of approach for me is about 78 miles if it stays on track with tropical storm force winds extending out to 90 miles, I'll be just on the cusp. Also the most vigorous wind is on the east and south side. Puerto Rico should experience the west side. Omar is supposed to pick up forward speed and move quickly which will limit exposure but will create more intensity for the folks on the NE quadrant. So us folks here in the mangroves are prepared for whatever Omar has in store. I'll do my best to update from the sat phone when I can.

Capt Chris

Update

Sorry for the lapse in time since my last post. I have been busy with my new floorboards for the dingy. View them above. So I am very happy to have this project complete as it has been on the work list for quite sometime. To have the boards replaced by Achilles would have cost more than $500 boat dollars. Gulp. This is the nature of boats. But a local fella, Steve took my old boards and fashioned up some new ones out of marine grade plywood. I then spent the week laying down epoxy and then painting. I also had to order the new plastic strips that connect the board system. I know the color really is kind of ugly, but I used existing paint that I had aboard plus the uglier the less chance of it being stolen. Or so goes the theory.

So I have been quite shocked over my last blog regarding the little puppy that popped up on the radar. What is funny is I never mentioned nor ever entertained actually adopting the little critter. Quite the buzz in the comments section. No having a dog aboard would cramp me a little to much, especially a puppy. But sometime in future when I get back ashore I certainly will be gathering up some pets. But let it be known that the little pup pictured has been adopted.

So over the past week I have really been excited about the change in weather. The nights have been cooler and the days clearer and more crisp. A sure sign that the winter is around the corner and the hurricane season is ending. However, much to my dismay, some active weather is south and east of the Cape Verde Islands. Some of the computer models develop these areas of low pressure systems into hurricanes. The experts say that Cape Verde type storms this late in the year are unusual. In fact only 4 hurricanes have hit the Lesser Antilles since 1851 during the month of October. But the ocean is plenty warm even though the water is starting to cool. So lets hope that wind shear or whatever destroys these systems before they even develop.

Awhile ago Brian Kos asked what the plan is in terms of rolling out of Salinas. The current plan is to make the call somewhere around October 15th. If the tropics look calm and nothing seems to be spinning up I'll head out of Salinas to the Spanish Virgin Islands. I then would hang out in Culebra for most of the month of November and then be in St. Thomas and St. John area around December 1st. But all plans are subject to change as always. One thing is for sure, I am ready to get moving!

Capt Chris

An Abandoned Puppy

As many of you know I spend at bunch of time at the Cruisers Galley due to the food, wi-fi, AC and big screened TV. The owner Diasha, among other things spends alot of money rescuing animals. One of the greatly disturbing things to me about Puerto Rico is the insane amount of stray cats and dogs running rampant. I'm not saying that animals should be elevated to human status but the contempt that many treat animals here does not thrill me. A culture clash no doubt. So the little guy pictured was left in a card board box on Diasha's door step last night. A real heartbreaker.

So I am back from my house sitting adventure a couple of days early. I started to have a crisis of confidence that my pre-arranged ride from San Juan back to Salinas was going to fall through. This would have been a real problem that only could be solved by an expenditure of alot of money. So when a fellow cruiser who had a car ( a CWC...cruiser with a car) came up to San Juan with team Wandering Dolphin to pick me up. We had a nice dinner in Caguas and arrived back to HQ here in Salinas as the evening stars appeared.

So thankfully the disturbance that was to my east was destroyed by high upper level winds and things seem okay weather wise. So back to the grid of retirement.

Capt Chris

House Sitting

Aquadilla Puerto Rico



I am house sitting this week for Bill and Kelly. Here they are getting ready to launch into the surf for a secession. Not sure who the photographer is but it is a nice shot of the two and wilderness beach.

I spent some time at Bill and Kelly's house when I first arrived in PR. Quite the adventurous pair. Bill is the only Coast Guard Dental Officer on the island and is responsible for the quality of the active forces grin. Kelly is a pharmacist and they both met years ago while they worked on a Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. The twosome are off to the states for weddings, camping, rock climbing and pretty much doing the Moab thing. So I jumped at the chance when they asked if I'd watch their two aging dogs, Small Pups and Wiley.

Just as a quick aside, it really is not abnormal for cruising sailors to end up house sitting. In fact Doug and Cheryl from SV Prudence have been doing just that on Culebra and also our goods friends on Snark, Kim and Dan did the same thing in St. Croix. The danger really is that it is the first step in growing roots. Let your heart not be troubled, Christa and company will be sailing east toward the end of next month. Besides we have a date with Janina in the Virgin Islands in mid December.

So anyway as I indicated in my blog posts last March/April the west coast of Puerto Rico is a whole different universe compared to Salinas. First off the house that Kelly and Bill have bought and improved upon is really cool. I have a love for small cottage type homes. But here is some quick history. Here in Aquadilla is Coast Guard Airstation Borinquen and Bill being a Coast Guard Officer is attached to the Air Station. But the whole area is dominated by what used to be Ramey Air Force Base. The CG Air Station is in but one hanger on the former air base. A commercial airport is also on the base being served by Jet Blue and some other carriers. The base was opened in 1936 by the Army Air Corp and evolved into a Strategic Bomber Base during the Big One and post WW11. Mostly B-52's and Aerial Re-fueling aircraft. The base was closed up in 1973 as per a reduction in force program during the Vietnam era. Two years prior the Coast Guard had moved its island aviation program to Ramey. Once Ramey went away, Borinquen was born. So the left over infrastructure is substantial. Hundreds of small concrete homes were built creating old school neighborhoods. One neighborhood is fenced and is the Coast Guard housing area with the movie theater and exchange. Most of the other Air Force homes were put out on the market and were bought up by locals. The homes for the most part are well maintained. The place does not look like a dump. Bill and Kelly bought one of these homes which flanks the CG housing area and is perched near the cliff with sweeping views of the Caribbean Sea. Their home is really cool, painted in the desert SW motif. Key for me is that it is off the grid. They have a solar array and also a solar hot water system. Very cool indeed.

What I would like to stress is the area is world famous for its great surf breaks and surf culture. Aquadilla faces west looking toward the Mona Passage and Dominican Republic. The beaches are lined with coconut palms, beautiful sand and clear water. Most of the year, when the east trades blow the west coast is sheltered. So I will enjoy my week or so living on terra firma.

Weather. I barely made it out of Salinas two days ago with the flooding. I had to drive to San Juan and then head along the north coast to get to Aquadilla, a bit out of the way to say the least. It poured with squalls all day yesterday. I spoke with the troops back in Salinas and learned of a line of squalls that racked through the anchorage after I had left. 50 knots for 30 minutes. Aye chiwawa. Christa is such a good boat, she rode out the storm and didn't budge. So I have been worried about the anchor moving, now I'm worried it's set so well I won't be able to raise her when the time comes! Anyway for the time being the scope is clear to my east and southeast. Sorry so long winded on this post.

Capt Chris

The Outcome of Invest 93, Puerto Rico

Below is a blurb I pulled off one of the weather sites I blanket.

"Tropical disturbance 93L continues to dump torrential rains of up to four inches per hour on Puerto Rico. Storm total rainfall amounts have exceeded 20 to 30 inches in parts of southeast Puerto Rico where rivers are up to 14 feet above flood stage. Flash floods and mudslides have been reported across the east, southeast, and southeastern interior Puerto Rico. An additional 10-20 inches of rain is expected over western and southwestern Puerto Rico today, due to the very slow motion of 93L. The rains from 93L are the most that have fallen on the island since Hurricane Georges ten years ago (see below)."

That pretty much sums up the current state of affairs aboard Christa. I was supposed to drive to the west coast today, but the Playa where I am is flooded and not passable. Maybe tomorrow?

Capt Chris

Autumnal Equinox

Salinas Puerto Rico

September 22nd is known as the Vernal or Autumnal Equinox. This is the point at which the length of day and night are nearly the same. The sun is now passing its celestial equator on its march south. This spells the onset of winter as the suns rays do not strike the northern hemisphere at such a direct angle. In Short Autum is here!

Capt Chris

Tropical Weather

I should be freakin out. A tropical depression is forming this morning 70 miles to the south of Salinas. A Tropical depression as we all know is the pre-cursor to a hurricane. The satellite photo certainly looks very ominous. However according to the experts the circulation that is apparent in the photo is in mid levels of the atmosphere thus far. As a system becomes more organized the atmospheric turning works its way to the surface. All things being equal, that is the point when wind velocity starts to increase. Also when circulation makes it to the surface and is deemed "closed" it is then upgraded from an "invest" to a tropical depression. Next stage would be a named tropical storm. Things need to monitored closely as TS Fay skipped the depression stage and went to a tropical storm just about instantly.

So the sweat factor is minimal as the system has some hostile environmental factors to overcome plus most of the weather models predict development north of Puerto Rico. However folks on the east coast need to watch out. This is the time of year when tropical systems can interact with low pressure system coming across Canada. The soup that breed the Perfect Storm in October 91.

So right now Puerto Rico is under serious rain and thunderstorm assault. Although it seems more rain than anything. So far we don't expect any thunderstorms to the severity of Hanna or Ike.

In other news, I'm supposed to head to the west coast town of Aguadilla to house sit for Kelley and Bill while they do some skulking. So hopefully I can spend the next week and a half living in a house, surfing and running with there two dogs down the beach. Then again, the weather could turn and I could end up swatting mosquitos while lashed into the mangroves. So many unknowables and everyone thinks cruising is so sexy.

Capt Chris

Weathered Obsessed....Can't Help It!

If you look closely at this graphic you will see that the center of this low pressure system is just to my west by about 20 miles. Crazy. Just a couple of days ago this low pressure system was heading in a westerly direction. Since then it just turned to the north and west and finally this morning due north. Since this morning the National Hurricane Center gave this a 50 50 chance of developing into a larger system. Also the forecasters have been unable to find the exact position of the low which is pretty important as the amount of vigor that a sailor may encounter depends on the relative position to the low. So since the sat photos looked scary the hurricane folk sent out a hurricane hunter.

So being hurricane obsessed I learned today where the website is to track the data in real time as it is transmitted from the aircraft back to HQ. So I did and first thing I read is 48 knots......tropical storm......then 68 knots at the surface. Holy toledo I thought the storm had exploded which is really not rare and of course its proximity makes it stupid to try and head for the mangroves. I did notice some abnormalities in how the data was being posted. Pretty much it looks like a spreadsheet and not all the data in the surface wind windows were being added. Some were skipped. Well the instrument was screwed up! Not to long after the hurricane center updated the storm data derived from the aircraft. So the low center was moved nearly 60 miles north placing nearly ontop of me. Good news! Surface winds are 30 to 35 mph. Can do. So it appears another bullet has been dodged by team Christa. I hate the stress of it all. So current conditions in the anchorage is 15 to 25 knots from the SSW with numerous squalls and tons of rain. As Tom Larson would say, I've got storm madness I've had it before. I think I'll give blogging a rest for today.

Capt Chris

Sold!

I drove up to San Juan a couple of days ago to show someone the Mirage which I officially put up for sale September 1st. Sold baby! I did not gain any money nor did I lose any money with the car. Perfect.

Other than the lingering hurricane season I now have nothing holding me back from rolling toward the Virgin Islands. The tropical conditions are calm. In fact last night was the first time in more than a month that the National Hurricane Center website did not have a single storm or area of disturbed weather. So the experts say that we have entered a calming trend for 7-10 days. I certainly don't think it's time to relax, but toward this time of year cyclone formation historically starts to shift to the western Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico instead of Africa. However that is just an average and really they have a mind of their own. Christa and company will not let our guard down!

Next week I am planning on house sitting at some friends place on the west coast. I am really excited about it. Bill and Kelly have a home that overlooks the Caribbean Sea, sits adjacent to the Coast Guard Airstation and plenty of secluded beautiful beaches. If I'm lucky maybe we can get a bit of a north swell so I can do some surfing. Either which way I'll surely do some paddling. Just paddling out is a total commitment. It is also easy access to the gym at the Air Sta with the coveted air conditioning.

So the plan is to free load at a beach place, enjoy long baths, walk the two dogs on the beach at first light, take many a siesta, watch TV and workout in the afternoon. Sounds pretty good to me.

Another Great Tropical Sunset, I never tire of these

As observed yesterday evening. I never tire of these displays of mother nature.

Capt Chris

Outer Bands of Hurricane Ike

Salinas Puerto Rico
Shot in the anchorage aboard SV Christa. On 7 to 1 scope of chain with a 45lbs Delta Set anchor

Back By Popular Demand...Bubba

One More Bubba