Let There Be Light!

The last week in St. Martin was a flurry of activity on the boat finishing up the solar project. First we had John and his beautiful wife, Maneula, come and install the stainless steel frame that would hold the solar panels.  John is the son of a tall ship’s captain and grew up around sailboats, including sailing on the German tall ship Passat. He was trained as a shipwright and is one of those guys who can fix anything on a boat. His German wife, Maneula (named after a German folk song) helps him with projects and also repairs dodgers, biminis and other canvas projects.

Watching them approach Flying Cloud with the huge stainless frame stretched across their 12 ft. work boat, I had to hold my breath hoping they would make it before a big wave tipped them over.  Wrestling the big frame up and over the top of the davits was like watching two big guys doing ballet moves.

Just getting the two boxes of two solar panels a piece on the boat was a challenge.

After all the effort buying the panels and getting the frame built, we had a very difficult time finding clamps to hold the solar panels to the frame. Island Waterworld had some beautiful Norwegian clamps (at $26 @), but naturally had only one and we needed 24. John rooted around for about a day and came up with an ingenious solution involving stainless/rubber cable clamps that actually look better than the official clamps.

Manuela helps John with mounting the panels to the stainless steel frame.

 It took about a day to get the frame installed and the four Kyocera 140-watt panels attached. Given the design of our transom, John had to suspend himself in our bosun’s chair from the davits to attach the outboard ends of the panels. Trying to screw in tiny allen screws while the boat rocked and rolled from boat wakes was quite an adventure for John. Manuela was the perfect assistant, handing him the correct tool or bolt after a short exhortation in German. I learned lots of tool names that day, but my German still is terrible.

It took us a while to get used to the new “heliport” (as one wag described it) with the 4 ft by 8 ft expanse of panels on the back of the boat, but once the amp meter peaked out at 26 incoming amps, we knew we’d done the right thing.  We were a little uncertain as to whether we had calculated correctly for both the size of the solar panels and the size of the battery bank. We probably erred a little on the conservative side, but that’s OK on a boat.

With between 4 amps in the morning and 26 amps at peak sun, we now charge our battery bank full by about 2:00 pm on a semi-overcast day (naturally it has been overcast almost every day since we installed the panels).  With our 550-amp-hour battery bank (rated at 24v) we now rarely see the bank drop below 89%, which is amazing given that we’re running a huge 24v motor for our refrigeration system. The MPPT solar controller actually “boosts” the incoming amperage of the solar panels by about 20%, so that helps on overcast days.

We still had lots of drama left as David came over to wire the new panels to our battery bank. He had a propensity to not allow enough “fudge factor” when calculating the wire runs, necessitating many trips for me back to Budget Marine, Island Waterworld, and Electec to buy more wire, connectors, and other parts.  We had a heck of a time trying to run the heavy 8-2 gauge wire through an already full conduit back to the circuit panels. We had also decided to buy a new Blue Sky Solar Controller and network it to our existing (but smaller) Blue Sky Controller, but some esoteric settings in the black boxes gave us fits. And simply trying to mount the solar controller box and fuse box in the only available space meant that David had to twist, turn and contort his body to get both hands through the small opening, then couldn’t even see where the screws were so he could tighten them. David said many bad words that day. What I had calculated would take us a day to do took two and one-half days, but we finally got it working. Wonderful to see those big numbers coming in on the amp meter display.

All it needs is a small helicopter.

The six panels (12v panels wired in series in groups of two) gives 830 watts of pure sun energy for Flying Cloud.

 After almost a year of limping along with virtually dead batteries, hoping the engine would start or the refrigeration would keep running, we’re now in solar heaven. Now matter what happens we still have an abundance of power and no longer have to be careful about shutting off a fan when we go from one cabin to another. Even more important, we don’t have to run the engine an hour in the morning and an hour at night to charge the batteries. If you are a sailor you hate the sound of the engine anyway. We found that the engine (and the old generator) created so much heat in the engine compartment that it actually warmed up the refrigerator box that shares part of the same space. So the more we ran the engine, the hotter the icebox would get and the more we had to run the refrigerator unit to cool it. A vicious cycle.

With our new solar panels it’s like starting life over again. Wish we would have done this on day one.

Marching with Mark

As you can imagine with all the projects we had going on the home front  we were in desperate need of some exercise and a little social interaction.  Once we heard Mark on S/V Sea Life, announcing on the morning net a group hike we decided to sign up and join the group. Mark is an amazing guy from down-under with a deep booming voice that immediately captures your attention.  He has an acting background from Australia and decided to retire at an early age to take up sailing.

Our group of seven couples off various cruising boats get their marching orders from Mark.

We first met him in Grenada as a cruisers radio net controller.  He is a spot-on kind of guy very involved with the cruisers safety and has helped out boaters in numerous emergencies.  Right, so come Saturday we were raring to go.
We met at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club at 10:30 am right next to the Dutch bridge as boat traffic was lining up for the morning opening.  A group of seven couples showed up. We checked out the boat parade and then we all caught a bus heading toward Philipsburg, the capital and largest port in St. Maarten accommodating hundreds of cruise ships every year. We got off the bus early and took a detour toward the beach opting for a more scenic walk eventually reaching the beautiful coastline.

You need to be prepared for anything with the intrepid Mark in the lead.

Although we'd been in Sint Maarten for over a month, we'd never seen this beach until the hike with Mark.

Mark had already scouted out the route so he knew where he was going. We had ample opportunity to chat amongst ourselves as we walked and coincidentally, reconnected with a couple on Ptarmigan, whom we had briefly met when we refilled their Soda Stream CO2 cartridge.  Nice couple.

Meryl and Mark from Australia.

Cruise ships at Philipsburg.

Cannons guarding Fort Amsterdam.

Stars and Stripes and another former America's Cup boat spar on the waters outside Philipsburg.

We climbed up to a point overlooking the harbor where Fort Amsterdam Heritage Park displayed old walls and cannons built to ward off invaders centuries ago.  As we looked off in the distance you could see two former America's Cup boats cross tacking.  Practicing for the upcoming Antigua Classic Regatta the following weekend.

Our group of intrepid travelers pause for a couple of Caribs at a beach side bar in Philipsburg.

While all the cruise ship people hang out on Front Street, Mark is about to show us the hidden treasures in the shops on Back Street, where all the locals shop.

We continued hiking along the road toward a long string of hotels and then walked along the beach for a distance.  We ended up stopping for a round of Carib’s at a beach-side restaurant.  Perfect!  Next, we headed toward the center of town along Front Street where all the cruise ship passengers shop.  We took a left turn and headed for Back Street which is where all the locals shop! We followed Mark into a store entrance which opened up into a huge three-story building with everything imaginable to buy.  We all wandered around looking for something we really needed as you know with limited space you are limited with what you have space for.  That being said, it is a good thing!  By now it was past lunch time and we had probably walked close to four miles so Walter and I dropped off to get a quick bite at Subway, no less.  We eventually caught up with the rest of the group as we hopped on a local bus bringing us back to the yacht club. 

Meanwhile, Walter and I had learned about a fabulous ice cream & gelato shop called Carousel as we were walking with the group.  So we had to go scope it out and hurried over by dingy.  Pretty amazing place with so many flavors you couldn't make up your mind.  It was a place we wished we had the grand-kids with us.  Finally, after a great day it was time to sit out in the cockpit and pick up a book or just collapse.

The Carousel gelato store is a hidden treasure back at Simpson Bay Lagoon.

So many choices.

This is only one of about five freezer cases full of every type of gelato you could imagine.

Refilling SodaStream Bottles

One of the difficulties of cruising is lugging cases of soda (i.e. Coke, Pepsi, etc.) down to the boat and finding storage for all the cans/bottles.

A great alternative is Sodastream (www.sodastreamusa.com). Sodastream is a shoebox-sized dispenser with a CO2 cartridge that injects the fizz into various flavors of soda or pop. The flavor is provided via a 16.9 fl. oz (500 ml) bottle of concentrate that makes 50 servings. You typically store several special SodaStream (carbonating) plastic bottles in your fridge until you are ready to mix up 32 ounces of drink.  Many major brands, such as Coke, Dr. Pepper, Crystal Light are available as concentrates, along with fruit juice concentrates you can buy in many Caribbean grocery stores.

Various styles of SodaStream dispensers.

To make a drink you (great instructions at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Soda-in-a-SodaStream-Machine):

• Remove cap from carbonating (storage) bottle (that is full of water) and screw into underside of top of dispenser unit (you need to screw it in at a slight angle).
• Push the top of the unit 2 to 3 times to carbonate. You will hear a "whoosh" noise each time.
• Unscrew the bottle.
• Pour your favorite concentrate in, replace the cap, and then gently mix the concentrate.

Typically the drink will stay carbonated for several days when stored in the fridge.

If you are in the US or other major metropolitan areas, you can easily exchange your CO2 bottles at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Walmart, Costco or other stores. The problem for cruisers, and it is a huge problem, is that you cannot legally bring the CO2 cartridges on an airplane or ship them. And with the exception of Puerto Rico, the C02 cartriges are impossible to find in the Caribbean.

Recently an email on a cruisers net said you could get them refilled in St. Martin, which is true. The only issue is getting the exact directions to the vendor and the issue of what types of bottles they will refill. So here is the skinny.

The vendor is Caribbean Industrial Gases, which is located between Grand Case and Cul de Sac (closer to Grand Case) on the French side of St. Martin.  When driving east on the main road (which runs just south of Grand Case Airport) you will see a round-about ahead. You turn left unto an unmarked dirt road just before the round-about (or circle the roundabout so you are heading back from where to came). Drive a short distance to the end, where on the right you will see a somewhat rustic business with large gas tanks outside. 

Please note dialing instructions for various phones. If you have a US phone, you need to dial 011 first.

 
They speak excellent English are actually great to deal with (once you find it). They charge US$ 5.00 to refill the standard 14.5 oz bottles and $10 for the 33 oz bottles.

Valve on the left is refillable. Larger valve on right can not be refilled.

The second trick is knowing whether your bottle can be refilled or not. The key is the little brass button on the very top of the bottle. Bottles with the very small brass button (slighlty larger than a pin head) can be refilled. Those with the larger brass button can not be refilled.

If anyone knows were to purchase just the valve/head piece, I'd love to know since I have one tank with the larger valve that can not be refilled.

And if anyone knows of other industrial gas companies on other islands, please let me know and I'll add them to this page.

Fly-By Visit with Dottie and Dirck

In the early days when our daughter Christa was dating her husband-to-be, Nash, our extended families began sharing holidays together.  Always a fun and eclectic group with an adventurous spirit, we shared Thanksgiving at the Cape Cod numerous times, Christmas at Jackson Hole and Lake Taupo, NZ, and many more adventures together over the years.  Now we alternate trips to Hong Kong to share our two grandkids, Quinn and Conner. We are very fortunate to have had this bond for all these years. 

We got an email from Nash's mother, Dottie and her friend Dirck, saying they would be coming down to Sint Maarten for a much needed winter break from Boston. We mentioned we were anchored in Simpson Bay Lagoon as a reference point of our location.  They found a great guest house nearby called The Horny Toad, of all things, right on the beach about a 5-minute walk from our favorite dingy dock at Barnacles Pub. Perfect!

We were certainly ready for a little diversion from our “chores” and a chance to visit and tour around the island with D&D sounded like a great idea. They arrived Tuesday afternoon and we headed over for a visit. We were immediately luxuriating in the spaciousness of their unit with a large kitchen, living/dining area, flush toilet and a huge shower.  Walter staked out a place on their huge couch and almost fell asleep. We shared some drinks and snacks out on the deck and watched the sunset. Dottie, slightly our senior and an energizer bunny with lots of ideas, prepared a delicious dinner of roasted chicken and asparagus.

The next day we took a dingy tour of Simpson Bay Lagoon, visited the town of Marigot on the French side and had lunch at “Serafina" a popular bakery/ restaurant.  We sat and chatted between rain squalls and finally headed back to our boat before the next squall hit.  We sat out in the cockpit and enjoyed some drinks and snacks before heading back to D&D's for a swim in Simpson Bay.  For dinner that night we walked down the beach to a lovely restaurant, “Characters” and had some great tapas.

Dottie, Dirck and Meryl for sundowners on Flying Cloud.

We had a few things to catch up on the next day so we let D&D enjoy their beautiful place on the beach and invited them over for dinner.  I decided to prepare “Stew Fish in Gravy” (Grenadian Style), along with rice and salad.  It’s a delicious dish we learned from our cooking lessons with "Esther and Omega" back in Grenada last year.  Following dinner we had the opportunity to see photos and videos of Dottie’s recent 5-week trip to Ethiopia.  She had some terrific photos and her videos were amazing.  Ethiopia is definitely a third-world country few have the opportunity to visit and we enjoyed learning more about its people and culture. Thank you Dottie.

Our plans for Friday, our last day together, were to rent a car and see some of the island.  We had to run a small errand on our way to get our Sodastream cartridges refilled with CO2 at an industrial gas supply company.  It turned into somewhat of a scavenger hunt as it was very tricky to find.  (see our blog post on refilling Sodastream bottles). Thank God both Dottie and Dirck speak fluent French or we would never have found the place.

We continued on to Ilet Pinel, which is supposed to be one of the best snorkeling spots on the island.  You ride a small boat out to the island and can snorkel on the reefs on either side of the beach. It has two restaurants and a beautiful beach with fairly clear water for swimming. We all snorkeled and checked out the scenery. Walter asked two topless French ladies from Paris if they would keep an eye on our belongings while we snorkeled.  They jokingly said they weren’t planning on going anywhere too soon, so no problem.  Anyway, after snorkeling everyone thanked them many times over, especially Walter and Dirck! 

Boat ride out to Ilet Pine

Beach on Ilet Pinel

After snorkeling we drove to Grand Case on the northeast side of St. Martin, which has a wonderful beach and some great restaurants. We ate at one of our favorites, Sky's The Limit, and enjoyed some cold beers and a huge plate of ribs with numerous sides. 

After eating so much it was good that hiking was next on our agenda.  We headed to the rainforest area of Pic Paradis to Loterie Farm, a renovated sugar plantation turned into an eco preserve where you can wine, dine, climb, hike and glide over the treetop canopy.  The ropes course and zip lines looked like a lot of fun but we opted to do the hike up the trail along a small stream and eventually up to a view point. After that we took in the comfort and ambiance of the treetop lounge and had some drinks.

Tree house lounge at Loterie Farm.

 

 
The next morning we swung by "The Horny Toad” to say good-bye to Dottie and Dirck as they headed over to St. Kitts for a couple days.  We thanked them for coming and sharing some fun times with us. They mentioned they had a five-hour transit at the airport on their way home the following Tuesday and planned to walk over from the airport to “Characters"  for a little swim and brunch.  Unfortunately, we were back in the midst of our solar panel installation and couldn’t get over for a last minute swim.  We told them to be sure and wave to us as they flew over us in the harbor. 

We have to give them credit they sure know how to squeeze in a lot in a very short time.  We on the other hand will probably still be here working on boat projects ad infinitum.  

An Embarrassment of Mangoes

Of course our primary focus here in St. Martin has been to get our boat projects completed.  Besides  new batteries, new solar cells, repaired dodger window we have been varnishing the interior windows in the salon and the topsides of our hatches where the sun comes in so strongly and does damage.   But this post is about a few fun things we have been doing here in St. Martin and not the work projects.

By the end of the first week after our new batteries were installed, we were ready for a little celebration. We headed over to Barnacles, a local Greek restaurant frequented by cruisers.  Saturday night they were featuring a lamb roast and coincidentally, we ran into our electrician, David and shared a few tall tales along with a beer or two.  The roast lamb was fabulous and it was nice to get off the boat and meet some new people.

This is what happens if you are the slowest lamb in the field.

Since we have been anchored in Simpson Bay Lagoon, we have a view of the Causeway Bridge, which separates the French and Dutch sides of the lagoon.  Whoever designed the bridge decided to make it special by adding rainbow-colored lights across the bridge.  After sunset, you can enjoy the “light show” that illuminates the bridge. First it's yellow, then blue, then purple, and so on.  The center section of the bridge that opens for boat traffic is often multicolored and late in the evening, the lights remain on all night in rainbow mode and its fun to view something as ordinary as a bridge become a piece of art. Someone on drugs would find this bridge the ultimate!

The bridge for '60 hipsters.

The new Causeway Bridge is actually one of the best walks in Sint Maarten.

Another reason we like the Causeway bridge is it has good sidewalks that make great walking paths.   Walking or jogging over and back is both scenic and great exercise.  It’s over 2.5 miles and close by so I’m sure we’ll do it a number of times before leaving Sint Maarten.

One day as we were heading to our usual dingy dock we passed a boat named Receta. Ah..ha. I recognized that boat immediately since it's Ann and Steve from Toronto.  Ann Vanderhoof, is the author of two great books about their two-year cruise in the Caribbean Islands.  The first book is called  An Embarrassment of Mangoes and The Spice Necklace is her second book.  The books document their adventures exploring the culture and cuisine from Toronto to Trinidad.  I had learned about it from another cruiser and was just finishing the last chapter.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book  and shared numerous funny parts with Walter.  What’s especially good are the recipes she has incorporated into the book.  I have tried several and hope to try them all.  So I dinghied over and introduced myself along with my two copies of the books plus a mango, hoping she wouldn’t mind autographing my books.  She signed them and we had a nice visit.  We later invited them over for  drinks and had a great evening learning more about their cruising and sharing sailing adventures. We wish them both the best and thank you Ann for writing such perfect books for cruisers visiting the Caribbean.

Ann and Meryl catching the sunset.

Oh It Feels So Good to Be All Charged Up Again!

Leaving Jolly Harbor was difficult since we had such a great time there, and more importantly, got used to staying on a dock just a short walk from a good restaurant, pool, grocery store, etc. One thing we won’t miss is the Tuesday Night Karaoke Competition where very drunk tourists sing very off-key and very loudly.

We left Jolly Harbor on March 14th and anchored just offshore so we could clean the boat bottom after the long stay in the harbor. That would have been fine except I’d forgot that I’d already used the SCUBA tank to clean the prop and it was only ½ full of air.  I decided to focus on the deeper and dirtier parts of the hull and prop, doing the easier stuff with our snorkeling gear.  I really enjoy working under the boat, it’s the one place it’s quiet and peaceful, as long as the barracuda’s keep their distance.

After flying 20,000 miles, a medical scare, and having guests on board for a week, Walter takes some much needed sleep on the passage to St. Barths.

We got an early start the next morning for a great sail over to St. Barths. We had thought of trying to make it all the way to Sint Maarten but it would have meant an all-night sail, and given that we hadn’t sailed in more than a month, we decided to ease into it.  We enjoyed wonderful beam winds of 15 - 20 knots and 3 to 4 ft. waves. As we approached Gustavia we were amazed at the sheer number of boats anchored, then remembered that last time we were there it was during the off season.

Large cruise ships and mega yachts anchored off St. Barths made for some interesting sailing between the behemoths.

We continued sailing around the corner, dodging mega yachts the whole way, to the beautiful harbor of Anse Colombier.  It was also gunnel to gunnel with boats, but we found a place toward the outside to drop our anchor for the night.  The weather had been perfect and we enjoyed just sitting in the cockpit and watching the sunset with a drink in hand.

The next morning we calculated our departure to arrive at Sint Maarten in time for the 11:30 am bridge opening, but unfortunately we were sailing too fast and had to keep reducing sail to slow down. We still got there early and spent an hour just sailing back and forth through all the boats anchored near the bridge.  At 11:30 am the bridge opened and we all hustled to get through the narrow opening to the inner harbor, called Simpson Bay Lagoon, before the recalcitrant bridge tender dropped the bridge back down.  We had decided to stay on the Dutch side since we were having a lot of work done to the boat, and the Dutch side is where all the marine stores, vendors, etc. are located.

The purpose of our visit was to replace the house battery bank, add two additional batteries, and install solar panels on the boat (since our much despised generator had recently died [or was it murdered?]). David, the electrician, came over and we took off in his workboat to pick up the 700 lbs. of batteries from Budget Marine, which is located right on the lagoon. Great plan, bad timing. I had called ahead to make sure the batteries would be ready, but got there to learn the elevator to the 3rd floor of their warehouse had just broke, but would hopefully be fixed later that day. David gave me a sly grin and said “That means later in the week if we’re lucky.” Sure enough, David was right.

So after all this careful planning and coordination, here I was to pick up my batteries and they were snug as a bug in a rug on the third floor. Not wanting to carry the 130 lb. apiece batteries down three narrow flights of wooden stairs, we acquiesced to fate and the elevator repair man.

We spend the next week doing various boat projects, with me spending the majority of my time learning why I could never be an electrical or structural engineer.  Since the genset had died, we had made the decision to add more solar panels to the boat. That’s easy if you are a catamaran with acres of space, but difficult on a sailboat.

My job was to figure how out the 1) boat’s power consumption, 2) the amount of electricity needed to replace that consumption, and 3) the size of the battery bank to store the electricity produced. In addition, I had to determine the number of solar panels needed, the size and weight of those cells, and what type of structure was needed to support all that weight and windage.

I remembered P=I*E from my hame radio class, but since our boat is a mix of 12 and 24 volt it made a somewhat simple project very complicated.  I built a spreadsheet and reviewed the data sheets of all our electrical devices to determine the number of amps they drew. I also tried to use the amp meter to determine usage, but found there was no “normal” on the boat. Somedays it’s sunny all day and the solar produces lots of power, and somedays its cloudy. Some days we run the stereo all day (it’s got a big power amp) and somedays we don’t. A pump whose data sheet shows it draws 8 amps draws only 2 when I read it with my amp meter. Go figure.

My best guess was that we used about 70 to 120 amp/hrs at 24 v, (140 - 240 amp/hrs at 12 v) on average in a 24-hour period. This means two things, we need a battery bank large enough to use only 45% of its capacity on any given day (it’s detrimental to draw a battery bank below 50% of its capacity), and we needed enough solar cells to generate at least 140 amp hours over the 5 hour solar day (hours of the day when the sun is high enough to produce good solar power). Everyone I talked to said “error on the high side of everything,” so I added in a fudge factor to the calculations.  On the battery bank side we added two additional batteries (two 12 v batteries wired in series with our current bank) to give a total of 550 amp hours of storage. That should give us more than enough storage to never run the batteries below a 50% discharge rate.

Island Water World on Simpson Bay Lagoon had the exact-sized solar panels we needed in stock.

 On the supply side, we already had two Kyocera 135-watt panels wired in series for the 24 v system. These were mounted on top of the bimini. We decided to add four more Kyocera 140 panels, with each pair-of-two wired in series. We had wanted to go with two 215 watt panels (which were available locally, but it turns out they do not produce enough voltage for a 24 v battery bank). The new panels will go through their own Blue Sky MPPT controller (similar to the the existing two panels), but the two controllers will be networked so we can monitor amperage from each bank. I have to admit this is all above my head, but I think we’ll be OK on the supply side with approximately 160 amp hours produced each day.

I will spare you all the phone calls, emails, in-person visits I made with the so-called “experts,” none of whom seemed to agree on anything consistent for me. I also had to decide whether to buy the panels locally, with limited selection and higher prices, versus having them shipped from the States. I worked with Eco Direct out of California and they were great at helping me make decisions, but by the time I’d ship their very reasonably priced panels to Sint Maarten the cost was exorbitant. I ended up buying a Blue Sky control and iPn monitor from them since a friend was flying down the next week from the States and could fit it in her suitcase.

On the home front, Meryl found a local German lady would could repair the rotted zippers in our dodger and install new vinyl windows so we could actually see out.  Turned our her husband was a shipwright, so I hired him to help me design a rack that would fit over our davits to hold the 130 lbs. of solar cells. We had two choices for mounting the roughly 4 x 8 ft of panels: 1) built a very expensive stainless steel tower that would rise up about seven feet and contribute a lot of weight in the wrong places, high up in the air and aft on the boat, or 2) build a simpler rack that would fit on top of the davits. We selected the second choice, realizing that we’re pushing the limits of our davits. We will need to make sure we take the engine off the dingy during passages to reduce the overall weight on the davits, but we think it will work. How it will look is anyone’s guess, I hate sailboats that look like spaceships or junkyards, but we do need electricity.

David preparing to remove the old batteries. The Lifeline batteries we used were an oddball size to fit into a very specific space under the saloon seat.

About a week later we got the call from Budget Marine that their lift was fixed and our batteries were now on the ground floor. David the electrician (who has a bad back from Vietnam) and I went over and carefully loaded them into his workboat, all 700 lbs. of them, and slowly motored back to Flying Cloud.  Luckily we could use our outboard motor lift to get them up on the deck, and then carefully walked them down the crowded side decks stepping over cleats, fitting, and lines.  Getting them down the companionway steps was a challenge for two guys in their mid 60’s, but it worked. We were both sweating like pigs the whole time.

Oh, I forgot, we had to reverse the whole process and remove the dead batteries from the boat, walk them down the side decks, lower them to the dingy, and take them back to Budget Marine for proper disposal.  No need to go to the gym today.

Once David got everything wired together (running the new battery cable was also quite the project) we saw 28.6 on the voltmeter, a number we haven’t seen for over a year. With the extra capacity we now never come close to running the batteries down like before. Eureka. We still have to run the engine two hours a day to recharge, but having the extra capacity has been wonderful. Now we just have to get the new solar panels mounted and connected and see how we do on the supply side.

Another spectacular sunset on Simpson Bay Lagoon, Sint Maarten.

Back to Warmth

Meryl was still cold from our month-long "Tour de Winter" across the US, Japan, and Hong Kong.

 Our 11:30 pm departure from Seattle to Newark was somewhat of a blur since we were both so wiped out from our Seattle visit. Soon we were having our last real American breakfast at Newark Terminal (scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast) before boarding a nearly empty 11:00 am flight to Antigua. We got First Class so it was fun to sit together, which is somewhat rare given all the flying we do. It was weird to look down at the deep blue sea and think of all the effort it took us to sail those same miles when we left Florida bound for the West Indies.

This was such a welcome sight to our eyes as we circled during our approach to Antigua Airport.

Soon the emerald green water of Antigua was poking out from amongst the clouds and I could  feel the tension melting away. Upon landing, and luxuriating in the warm tropical air, we hired a porter who assured us he could get our three huge boxes of boat parts, food, etc. through Customs. Well, the Customs man made me open all three boxes (which were barely held together despite the best efforts of many ramp rats).

Peering into the boxes, he said: What’s all this?

“Stuff for the boat,” I replied.

"OK," he said.

And off we went.

During the hey days of offshore money laundering on Antigua, this casino was packed every night. Now it's just a white elephant.

 After a quick cab ride to Jolly Harbor we were trying to figure out how to get the three huge boxes, two suitcases, two carry-ons, and other junk down to the dock. Since the boat was “bow in,” we had to figure a way to lift everything up four feet to clear the bowsprit and then down the line-strewn deck to the cockpit. Where are three strong Australians when you need them? “Right here, mate,” came the reply from behind me. “Need a hand?”

Have you ever watched a box die in front of your eyes?

The ironical thing is that after 6,000 miles of flying, one of our cardboard boxes literally burst open as it was quietly sitting on the cockpit seat waiting to go down below. Don’t ever, ever use U-Haul shipping boxes for transporting stuff by air. The cardboard is glorified rice paper. But as my engineering friends would say, “It got your stuff there in one piece; it did it’s job.”

The outer beach leads to the famous Jolly Beach a ways down on the right. The inner harbor leads to Jolly Harbor Marina where we had the boat moored.

Meryl loved walking down mile-long Jolly Beach in the mornings. Notice our new dorky sun protection hats.

This pool is the reason it took us so long to leave Jolly Harbor Marina. And the bar. And the restaurant.

 After everything we'd been through on our month long hiatus, we seriously needed some down time, so the next couple of days were actually somewhat relaxing: getting stuff put away and cleaning up the boat, long walks down Jolly Beach (with proper sun protection), and lazing by the pool. This is more what the cruising lifestyle is supposed to be all about.

Unfortunately every time I looked at the battery monitor it reminded me of why we had to hustle and get to St. Martin to pick up our new batteries.  At 22.8 volts (for a 24 volt system), we were literally running on empty.

Time to move on.