Cat Tails

BOREDOM (or goofy things you do at sea)

We departed the Gulf of Nicoya for a quick little trip to Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. Ok… so “quick” is a word that really shouldn’t be used in conjunction with cruising boats. It’s roughly 800 miles from Puntarenas, Costa Rica to the Bahia. We had been watching the weather on this route for about two months and had never seen wind in double digits. Our plan was to sail down the 085 west longitude line until we reached latitude 2 North, at which point we would point our bow toward the Bahia located at about 35 miles south of the Equator. After two days we had made about 80 miles towards our destination, the wind was either non existent or about five knots. We carry enough fuel to motor for about 400 miles so we knew we would have to sail at least half the trip. When the boat dropped below one knot we would turn on the motor and idle along at two knots. We hoped this would extend our range. We had not seen another boat for several days and Linda was becoming bored with the flat windless ocean. So in the middle of the night when she came on watch she was quite speechless when she saw a freighter crossing our bow 300 yards in front. Well ok… not quite speechless, it might have been “why the !@** is he so close?” I quickly told her that I had talked with the Captain and everything was ok. As we bounced thru the stern wake she made a comment about being too close. I quickly retreated to bed for a few hours shut eye. We had been at sea for six days now averaging about 60 miles a day. Now we like to stay in shape when we’re underway so for the last six days we had been doing sail aerobics, this is where any chance you get you hop up and make a sail change. We have twin forestays so we can fly twin headsails for downwind work. We also have four different head sails, throw a whisker pole into the mix and you can be hopping up and down every time the wind goes up down or changes direction! Now this was our first trip to Ecuador and friends told us “make sure that you stay at least 60 miles off of Isla Malpelo because of possible problems with some very unsavory characters!” I’m not sure what that means but it reminds me of the scene in Capt. Ron where they discuss the difference between Guerillas and Gorillas, I don’t want to be standing face to face with either one. Our imagination is now starting to get the better of us and we come up with a game plan of what to do should we have an incident with an unsavory character. Linda would stay inside the boat with the flare gun and the spear gun (these are the only weapons we carry) however, when I say the “secret word” she would come out with flare gun behind her back with the mention of the second “secret word” she would discharge the flare gun… hopefully hitting someone other than me. This would of course scare the unsavory characters into leaving. Now Linda actually has a little practice at this as many years ago she was a Deputy Sheriff in WA. She very astutely said “hey, I need to be able to reload quickly in case there’s more than one”. So we strapped a couple of straps across her chest with extra flares on them (Pancho Villa) style, now she was ready for action! Fortunately, although very slowly, we passed Isla Malpelo without incident! We were now in the ITCZ and could see squalls on the horizon, finally to break the boredom we had some wind, Linda said “Rob don’t you think we should get the main down?” After six days of ghosting along I was ecstatic, we suddenly were doing seven knots! However, I quickly became aware that we were seriously over canvassed, not something you want to do on a small cat 300 miles from land. Rain was now coming down like it had come out of a shotgun. I was pulling for all I was worth to get the main down and wishing we were just bored again ghosting along... 20 minutes later the sea was flat and the motor was running.

We finally approached the Equator and as this was our first time across we thought about a lot of different ceremonies for Neptune. A friend who was in the Navy told me they made him crawl thru garbage and spanked him. I thought this sounded a little messy and a little kinky…little did I know. When we we’re in Mexico Linda bought some gold lamme fabric just for this occasion, I was supposed to wear this like a toga and pronounce our crossing a success. Now we all know Neptune likes his rum, so I had a bottle of Flor de Cana, which I happen to think is some of the world’s best. As we got close to the Equator I donned my gold lamme toga, poured myself a healthy shot of rum with a little extra for Neptune. Now I think Neptune is usually seen with a crown of seaweed on his head, so out of respect I also wore a crown of cabbage leaves held in place by my head lamp. (Hey, ya gotta be creative at sea). I yelled down for Linda as we were getting close, she needed to hurry, it would be bad luck not to give the right respect as we were both polliwogs. She stepped into the cockpit much to my surprise in black high heels, stockings, garter belt, and a bustier. She said “Neptune’s a man, I know how to get his attention!” We crossed the Equator giving Neptune his rum and the rest I will leave to your imagination.

Now we were starting to run low on fuel, we still had 300 miles to go and we hadn’t seen wind in days. I thought we would be okay until the equatorial current starting dragging us out to the west at an alarming rate. It was decision time… we had no wind, the current was running at 2-2.5 knots, we didn’t have enough fuel to motor against that current for the 300 miles we had left. So, a weekend at the Galapagos seemed like the perfect thing.

For the first time in a week we were moving towards our destination at a reasonable speed. With a two knot current pushing us even in idle we could make five knots. Two days later we anchored at the Galapagos Islands. After a good nights rest we refilled our jerry jugs plus a couple extras we purchased for the trip back to the mainland. We bumped into friends we had said goodbye to in Panama, thinking we wouldn’t see them again for a while. They were quite surprised and fed us a wonderful dinner. After three days we departed for the mainland, once again… no wind and flat seas. Again, listening to the motor for almost 600 miles. However we did discover a new game, a Boobie would land on our spreader, the first time he deposited his dinner on the deck and bimini we wanted him gone. So I unhooked the running back and would swat him on the butt with it, he would turn and try and bite the running back. It would usually take three good swats to get him off the spreader. He would then fly around the boat four or five times and land back on the spreader, where we would start the game all over again…oh, what fun!

We arrived at the Bahia where the pilot guided us over the bar. Now, Linda’s idea of surfing is on the net not through breaking waves with our boat. But hey, it really cured the boredom of a very long passage. What was supposed to be about 800 miles turned into 1400 and twice as long as we thought.

Rob & Linda

Cat’n About

Well we arrived in Mazatlan after a 30 hour passage (this was fast for us as we had planned on 36 hours). We were tired as we had only had a couple of hours sleep. So, after a good nights sleep we spent about 12 hours the next day washing the last four months worth of grime off the boat, scrubbing the rust spots on the stainless, cleaning out lockers and just general spring cleaning. By 1930 we fell exhausted onto the couch, inside of 30 minutes every muscle in our bodies hurt. The drug of choice for my generation is no longer POT its Advil!!

Linda managed to throw some dinner together by 2100 and then we rolled into bed. The next morning every muscle was screaming, so back to the Advil.

We thought we deserved a day off and told Linh & Teal that we have never done much sight seeing in Mazatlan. They had spent three months here last year and offered to be our guides!! So off we headed into Old Town for lunch, the usual comida economica (cheap lunch for four $7.40). After lunch Teal lead the march, we started at the market and headed for El Faro a couple of miles away. Now think about this, it's after lunch the sun is high in the sky so guess what? Yep, it's the hottest part of the day; it's time for the “Gringo stomp”. That's for idiots like us who don't have enough brains to go and take a siesta during this part of the day. El Faro for those not familiar with Mazatlan is the Worlds highest naturally placed light house it's approximately 500' above sea level. So, after a couple of miles of walking the streets in 88 degree heat it's up the side of a mountain, now at the bottom of the mountain there's an enterprising gentleman who sells ice cold water and pop, about to pass it up Teal tells us we should buy water. 20 minutes later our thighs are burning and we're sweating like pigs in an oven and we have almost drunk the whole liter of water. We’re now a third of the way up the mountain, funny it looked like a small hill from below. After a couple of rest stops we get to the steps, did I mention the last part is 497 steps up to the top; these are concrete steps of various sizes. When we reach the top the view is stunning it overlooks the entire city of Mazatlan.

They don't normally let people into the light house but for some reason they let Teal and I go up into the lighthouse VERY COOL. No, I mean really, they run AC in the top to keep the lens cool!!

Well, we hobbled back down the mountain, by the time we got to the bottom I was feeling like Sir Edmund Hilary (The British chap who climbed Everest). So, off we went again on the Teal tour. So, when Teal said “shall we pop up those 200 steps to see the cannon the Germans left” it was almost a unanimous “NO!” So, off we went along the Malecon for about four miles then turned back into the city to find the oldest church in Mazatlan, imagine our surprise one hour later when we came back to the same spot in the hwy realizing we had seen the church but were no closer to getting home. We continued on along the Malecon for a couple more miles when Teal said “we can take the bus from this corner”, three bodies plopped to the sidewalk and mercifully the bus came by in just a few minutes. Now this was the expensive bus, 8 pesos, fully air conditioned, by the time we got back to the marina we shuffled off like prisoners going to the gas chamber. Five minutes later we climbed on the boat, along with a stiff Vodka Tonic I shared the Advil bottle with Linda who lay on the couch not moving. I hobbled over to the stove heated some leftovers and then we drug our bodies to bed. In reflection we had hiked for about six hours, climbed a 500' mountain and visited most of Old Town on foot. One other thing... I wish we would have bought stock in Advil.

Love to all

The trekkers south of the border

Biker Babe

Well it wasn’t bad ass bikers, or even teens on trikes, just middle age madness on mopeds!

Isla Mujeres Mexico two middle age folks decide to brave the streets, after strapping the obligatory red helmets on the attendant gives me the 10 second class. The locations of stuff that really didn’t matter, ignition, brakes, lights, turn signals, you know dumb stuff until he got to the horn… muy importante..

So after strapping my biker babe on the back (unfortunately they didn’t rent chaps, I thought she would look good in chaps and her bikini) we decided to head out. Now the attendant was watching as we pulled away so I thought to give him the impression we knew what we were doing I would just floor it. Now we shoot away from the curb, causing my biker babe to lean back grabbing my head for support, I was now staring straight up into the sky and running full throttle down the road. Biker babe was doing her best to try and climb all of her butt back on the moped by pulling on my head. I was trying my best not to fall off by gripping the throttle, which was still in the wide open position and attempt to bring my head into an attitude where I could actually see where we were going. I finally managed to bring my head down and pry biker babes left hand out of my left eye socket and her right hand out of my mouth to assume the more casual biker couple position of arms around my waist. By now we had the squirrels screaming and had attained a speed of 50….. Kilometers that is, however a speed bump had snuck up on us and we hit it hard, this had the effect of launching biker babe back into the previous position hence snapping my head back once again staring at the sky. At this point we were out of sight of the rental store so stopping to rearrange seemed like a good idea.

We coasted to a stop and shut down attempting to look cool, we adjusted ourselves tightened the chin strap on the helmets and climbed back on our hog, well maybe hog is a little much, maybe Piglet would be a better term for this fine machine. Feeling like I should be sporting a Harley tattoo that says ride free or die I casually hit the start button only to scare the crap out of us as it was really the horn, thinking that couldn’t be right I hit the button again a loud pathetic beep came from the piglet. Now people were starting to stare and we were starting to look like geeks! I know it’s not cool but I removed my shades and put my cheaters on to see if the key was in the right spot, after fussing with it for five minutes thinking we were going to have to push the piglet back to the rental shop I held the front break and hit the starter vroom all 10 squirrels roared to life.. We were once again looking cool, biker babe and I were off down the highway. Cruising down island with the Caribbean as a backdrop was way cool. We started thinking that maybe we should get serious and think about getting a bigger machine to do some real biker stuff when we noticed a large black cloud heading our way. Now 50 kilometers may not seem like high speed but when you hit a rain squall it takes about 5 seconds to become totally soaked, we had gone from totally cool to really cold. However the good thing about the tropics is things dry very quickly. However biker babe looked pretty good after getting soaked and blasting along in the wind, you might say she was kinda perky!!

Well we parked the piglet and stopped for sodas at a road side café, strode in with my best James Dean swagger, thought about asking for milk in a dirty glass but thought some of it would be lost in the translation to Spanish ( my Spanish still needs work). After sipping sodas and waiting for another rain squall to pass we headed out for the south end of the island to visit the Mayan temple ruins. We were both in sync now leaning into the corners and came flying into the dirt parking lot at the ruins, trying very quickly to remember which break was the rear, I gave up and jammed them both on, we slid thru the dirt and stopped just shy of the bike rack. I flipped the key off and yanked back on piglet to set the kickstand. Biker babe pulled off her helmet and didn’t appreciate my chuckle at her flat hair ! We walked out to the rock pile that passed for the ruins, purchased an ice cream, waited again for one more rain shower and fired up the piglet. By now we had a handle on looking cool pulling away and even kicked up some dirt and gravel. I really do think were ready for the hog, we cruised the east side of the island blowing past golf carts like they were doing 15 kph (ok so they were) riding with the wind on you face was cool until a bug hit one of my teeth. I’m here to tell you fly guts don’t taste good. We stopped once again after reaching the north end beaches parking the piglet right on the sand took a few pics, I convinced biker babe that all babes on bikes had to expose themselves for a picture if they were real biker babes. Being a good sport she flashed me the goods and giggled until she heard the guy just out of her vision say something. A hasty retreat was made from the sand, Ok well maybe it wasn’t quite that hasty as piglet didn’t want to really go thru the sand and I had to drag it back to the pavement. We completed our circumnavigation of Isla Mujeres 10 mins later and returned our piglet to the rental agency.. When we get home I think we’re going to check out the local Harley dealer… Maybe buy biker babe a pair of chaps, you know so she can break em in before we spend all that money on a hog……….

Remember always wear a helmet as riding piglets could be dangerous to your health ….on the other hand it was a hell of a lot of fun..

Rob & Linda AKA Biker babe S/V Cat’n About

Sailing naked and drinking Margaritas

So we're living the good life here in Mexico, just sailing naked,=
>working on our tans and drinking margaritas everyday ........ Well =
>Two days ago we awoke to grey skies, light wind, as the day progressed =
>the wind built.
>Sitting in the cockpit with our usual sundowner's raindrops started to =
>fall on our heads! Totally aghast we moved under the bimini, however, =
>tomorrow's another day, a good day for Linda as her grocery order =
>comes in.
>
>Now getting groceries in a place like this is a little involved, you =
>put your order in for stuff the week before and hope that things don't =
>get lost in the translation, like wanting Olive oil and getting motor =
>oil. Plus you don't just get in the car and go pick them up, well, =
>sort off, for us the car is the dinghy.
>
>Sat. morning I'm awoken by RAINDROPS coming thru the bedroom hatch, =
>dark grey skies and the wind blowing 10-15. Well this is Mexico, it =
>will blow away soon. We sat and had coffee listening to the rain grow =
>in intensity and realized what a golden opportunity this was, so I =
>went outside to scrub the boat with soap and let the rain rinse it =
>off. Now I know what your thinking, I go thru the cleaning thing and =
>the rain will stop before the soap is rinsed off...not this time, it =
>was still raining when I finish.
>
>Linda had a fairly large grocery order, we also had a propane tank to =
>pick up and Capt. Cubster was out of cat litter, so not going to =
>Maria's was out of the question. However it was 80 outside, so it's a =
>warm rain!
>
>So off we go for the 45 min run thru the jungle to get our groceries, =
>the first step is to cross the bar, this is usually done at high tide, =
>guess what the tide was when we got there!(low) So over the side of =
>the dink I go dragging the dink in 6" of water, when a wave comes by =
>and soaks me to the waist. Now the tide is running out, so we are =
>dragging the dink against the tide, when we reach water deep enough I =
>hold the dink so Linda can get in, start the motor put it in gear then =
>give it some gas, I dive in as she goes by, we are both quite wet at =
>this point.
>
>With Linda at the helm we head up thru the jungle, now Linda has =
>become very accomplished at handling our boat but in the dinghy she is =
>a total spaz, we're in a narrow channel with sand bars on either side =
>so when I say turn left there is no room for error! use your =
>imagination...
>
>Well we arrived at Maria's (which is just a truck in a dirt parking =
>lot) picked up all our supplies and had a slow trip back as we had a =
>big order. It's still raining, but hey, we have fresh cat litter(we =
>were down to getting ready to scoop sand off the beach) so life's good.
>
>We get to the end of the river and now are facing a scene we didn't =
>like the looks of. The wind had switched 180 degrees, blowing on the =
>shore and the surf had gotten big. So here is the dilemma, do you =
>wait for the surf to die down or is it going to get bigger, with our =
>dinghy loaded down with groceries and a big propane tank we would not =
>be able to travel quickly thru the surf. If the surf got much bigger =
>we would not be able to make it back to the boat, so we went for it. =
>Watching the two dinghy's in front of us take breaking waves over =
>there bows I knew it was going to be a wet ride. We dragged the dink =
>over the sand bar one more time and headed for the surf line, when =
>Linda was waist deep she dove over the side of the dink, looking =
>somewhat like a stinkbug she scurried for the stern to start the =
>motor, by now I'm in chest deep water with the occasional wave =
>breaking over my head and piled over the stern, we took one wave over =
>the bow, the little motor started and we headed for the boat.
>
>Our case of beer and groceries floating around the floor, thank god =
>the litter was in a waterproof container. We arrived at the boat wet, =
>salty, and tired. After cleaning up the mess, showering, putting on =
>dry clothes the rain stopped, the wind switched 180 degrees and died =
>then the sun came out.
>
>With our chores done for the day what else do you do! we headed for =
>the cockpit with sundowner's to watch the sunset.
>
>Love to all
>
>Rob & Linda

How did you spend your Valentines Day?

Valentines Day in Mexico is much the same as in the US, however, when you live aboard a boat full time it has a few differences. It’s very hard to sneak away and get your spouse something as she is always with me. Next every square inch of our 30x15 boat is already filled with stuff and she doesn’t need anything else. Now, I can hear the girls now… jewelry doesn’t take up much space…….. however, Linda doesn’t wear jewelry.

So we mutually decided on a nice dinner, steak and prawns. We also had some business to take care of so we loaded the laptop into the waterproof backpack then into the dinghy and into town to shop and do our internet chores.

We stopped at the carniceria (butcher shop) I asked the butcher for Filet Mignon in my bad Spanish, he smiled and said “se”, he then pulled out a 4 lb filet. I told him I wanted two small steaks, he smiled and told me I had to buy the whole thing, I declined.

After a few more sentences of my bad Spanish he showed me a hunk of beef I’m not sure what part of the animal it was but he cut me a huge steak out of it. The meat was frozen and he put it in a plastic bag which I dropped into the backpack.

Off we went to the internet to take care of a couple of emails, as always these things take longer than planned. What we thought was going to be a couple of minutes turned into a couple of hours. However, we completed our business and started to pack away the laptop, Linda reached into the backpack and removed the meat bag as I turned toward her she was unaware that the meat had thawed and blood was dripping everywhere! It looked like Lizzy Borden had visited the internet café we had blood everywhere! It took us about 10 minutes to clean the place up. The clerk was very happy to see us leave.

Well, with that little incident behind us we continued on to pick up some fresh prawns.

I had seen a couple guys selling flowers alongside the road and being the romantic I am I strolled over and asked him how much the flowers were.

Now after a month of Spanish class you would think that was an easy question, well my Spanish is better but my hearing is worse. I thought the guy said 2 for 50 pesos, what he said was 12 for 50 pesos. So I pointed to the white the red and the purple thinking I would get 6 total. When he bundled up the first dozen of purple I thought this is going to cost me a fortune. Sensing I didn’t understand he smiled and asked “is that enough”, “se” was my response, he got 50 pesos, Linda got flowers and I got major brownie points.

While walking back to the boat we passed a cigar store, now this is a real artesian his family has been making cigars in this little store for three generations, he had leaf right there. With some encouragement from my wife I bought a nice robusto for after dinner. I couldn’t resist. (I think she wants the insurance money).

We returned to the boat and were promptly met by friends who wanted to know where we had been. One of the things about cruising is there is always a party on some boat. Imagine stuffing a dozen of your close friends cheek to cheek in a 6x6 cockpit, then happily stuffing your face with appetizers and consuming several very potent cocktails and everyone talking very loudly at the same time. That’s the standard party.

Well tonight it would be different……..

Apparently it was one of the guy’s birthdays and he thought he should treat himself. We’re all anchored in the lagoon at Barra de Navidad where there is a very swanky resort. (Checkout the Grandbay resort on the net for pics) Rooms start at $400 a night. Apparently everyone was at the top pool already and had been wondering where we were. Well not to miss a party we changed into our swimsuits and headed for the resort, the small marina they have is very spendy, last week a large boat jammed the entrance almost closed, they had a dinghy larger than our boat. They also had a ten million dollar helicopter on the aft deck.

So we strolled into the place liked we owned it, there was the group lounging around the pool sucking down cocktails. Now I said they were at the top pool, they have several pools connected by water slides all surrounded by palm trees and lush plants it’s a very tropical looking place.

However when our group arrived it might have changed a little, imagine a bunch of old guys after a cocktail or two pushing little kids out of the way so we could ride the water slides. Very uncivilized, but it sure was fun……

We then moved the party to the room which was on the top floor of the resort, to say this was the plushest hotel we had been in would be putting it mildly. Our party had gone from being jammed cheek to cheek to sprawling out on large couches, room service that delivered appetizers (we did bring our own booze though, those drinks are expensive).

I noticed Linda’s eyes had a glaze to them and she was staring at the bathroom, a bathtub something she hadn’t been in in a while. The party was going well people were spread all over the room, out on the balcony and one still drooling in the bathroom…..

A bottle of very nice champagne was opened (Perrier Jouet) and the birthday toast was made, and then the whole gang went down to the restaurant for dinner. Linda & I decided to pass on the restaurant and go back to the boat for the surf and turf, the steak had been marinating all day in teriyaki. We did the shrimp scampi style then served them on a bed of salad. Linda smelled her flowers and I smoked my cigar quite an enjoyable evening, it would have very easy to go to bed and call it quits.

However, I had promised my wife music and possibly some dancing. So it’s now 2200 we hop into the dinghy in the dark and head for town about a 10 minute dinghy ride. We arrive at the same time as the rest of the group although it’s size had been cut in half. Seems after paying all that money for a room they wanted to use it and without the rest of us there (we know when we’re not wanted).

Six of us find a table at the Sands hotel, the band has just taken a break but hey it’s two for one cocktail’s, so when in the tropics drink something tropical. I order a Pina Colada, Linda orders mineral water. The waiter of course brings me two drinks (it’s two for one) and the conversation starts. Now we like to people watch like a lot of folks and commenting on them sometimes can be cruel but fun. Our latest victim is a mid forties women who has what looks like a rats nest in her hair but I think she teased it like that, a raspberry colored tee shirt with a rope tied around her ample waist followed by velvet purple very short hot pants, at first I thought she had painted her legs pink and white but it turned out to be tights. As if she knew we were talking about her she strolled over to our table with a hat and asked for a tip it seems she was the lead singer of the band. We explained we had just got here and hadn’t heard any music yet; she smiled and said she would return. Well, the music started and she had a pretty good voice something like a cross between Tina Turner and Janis Joplin.

The drinks flowed and everyone was on the dance floor, now this was an older crowd average age 60 so the dancing was not sedate but not wild. John & Gaye decided to call it a night as it was midnight so we were down to four. The singer broke into a song and Ken hops up and does some funky squat dance over to the dance floor, no one else is up he continues dancing with himself and pointing at the singer, I assumed his wife Dottie would get up and dance with him. She looked over and said he does this every now and again, Ken is now getting wild on the dance floor and the crowd is cheering, a woman leaps out of the crowd with a grin on her face and a look in her eye of “I’m taking you home with me!” She begins to dance with Ken. From the table we can see Ken pointing wildly and without being able to hear I know he’s telling her ”that’s my wife and friends over there” and “I’m not single”, she’s trying to climb on him on the dance floor, the song ends and Ken runs for his seat.

It’s 0100 and the music ends we each climb into our dinghy and head for the boats, just a short distance later we pass a disco that’s rocking, Ken swerves his dinghy in to see what’s going on, the next thing I know we’re all walking thru the door, it’s a 40 peso cover charge and the music is so loud you can’t hear yourself think. Now, the average age of this crowd is 25, they’re all leaping about on the dance floor that has strobe lights, black lights and fake smoke being blown on the dance floor. Ken screams in my ear “come on lets show them how it’s done”. It’s amazing how good you think you are after some drinks. Now Mexican discos are a little different, it’s a live band and they have a tuba!! they’re playing what sounds like polka music on crack, the kids are wrapped around each other and hopping in place. We follow suit and dance until about 0230 (my left hip hurts so bad this morning and I don’t know why, thank God for Advil it’s the old guys drug of choice). We leave the disco and stroll thru the small town stopping at yet another bar where we can hear people laughing, thankfully the bartender tells us we missed last call. We dinghy back to the boats and like small children do donuts around a friends boat to wake them up at almost 3am, we giggle driving off to our own boat with out looking back thinking they won’t know it us.

Hope you all had fun on your Valentines Day.

Love to all Rob & Linda

On top of the roof at our hotel in Antigua.

We're getting a small class in entomology down here, Mosca's which are your standard fly's show up every now and again and you think it's the a chapter from the bible, you just want the god damn things to leave. yesterday we anchored in a nice place Isla Salsipuedes, very quiet, the snorkeling was great, we got three nice triggerfish for the dinner table. The next morning after latte's we had a nice hike to a 375' peak. However before we left Linda applied every known chemical to man to her body, the local bug population had extracted a little of her body fluids the night before and she was determined not to give them anymore. As we got ready to leave I started to feel a little nervous so I sprayed what I thought was the least offensive chemical on my legs(it had warnings in fourteen languages none of which I could read), Half way up the hill my lips had gone numb and I couldn't remember my home phone number, Well since I don't have one I guess that doesn't count!! We never got any bites.

In the morning boats check in a by ham radio tell where they are and the weather conditions and any other general info that's important. Last week three or four boats were in a bay called Puerto Refugio (port of refuge)they said the BoBo's were horrible.. We talked with one of the boats who told us BoBo's were small fly's, who fly into your eyes, ear's, nostril's and any other body openings. They also like any body part that has a fold such as belly's, chins I think you get the picture.

Well we had some BoBo's at the anchorage we were at, However we also had some no-see-um's which have a tendency to bite Linda and leave nasty welt's. So we did the only sane thing which is to move.

Well we arrived at Las Animas the next closest island, your's truly was standing at the bow lowering the anchor, when I discovered first hand what BoBo's were like, they introduced themselves to my eyes, nose, mouth, ear's and any other body part that was warm. Now the logical response is to just jump overboard, it's like being swarmed by bee's (Cheryl these won't be here in Feb)however what needed to be done was just pull the anchor and leave. However the dinghy still had the motor on. Well it took about 10 mins to take the dinghy motor off stow it on the back rail, then pull the anchor. All the time the local BoBo population was taking up residence in my ears, nose, belly, butt crack and any other part you can think of.

We left Las Animas for Bahia Sanfransisquito 18 miles away, the magic box (GPS)said it would take us three hours to get there, but the real question is ?? would the BoBo's be gone buy the time we got there.

So it's 88 outside there's a small breeze coming across the deck, not enough to sail, the motor's pushing us along at 6.2 knots, autopilot is steering. It's now 2 1/2 hours to BS anchorage. well, after a harrowing experience like that It's Martini time.

We dropped the anchor at 1900 and not a bug insight, Having your head and other body parts swarmed by little bugs is not something you really want to experience, trust me on this.

However as I type Linda has gone from complaining about the bugs to trying to pick the coffee remnants out of the screen for the Espresso machine, it's just a matter of perspective! bugs up your nose or your Latte tomorrow not quite tasting right.

Some things boggle your mind particularly if your on your third martini

Hugs and love to all
Rob, Linda & Capt Cubster

Well we arrived at Catalina just in time for the festivities, =>anchoring in 4.5' of water with fore and aft hooks to stop us from =>swinging due to room, we're the closest boat to shore and at low tide =>had a couple of inches of water under us.>>Now imagine, 50 year old guys with pot bellies doing their best to =>look like Johnny Depp! I talked to one guy who had more makeup on his =>eyes than his wife. He informed me that I had to try the Buffalo Milk, =>the local drink only made on Catalina,lots of booze mixed with ice, =>milk, whipped cream then topped with nutmeg and Kahlua, a couple can =>be lethal, three can be down right fun.>>We took a little break from the festivities to return to the boat and =>have dinner (wise move). Later at 9.30 in the dark we managed to =>negotiate the kayaks to the dinghy dock, with the logic of it's only =>two feet deep if we fell out we could just walk to shore, so off we =>went hiking across the Isthmus to Two Harbors to catch up with the =>party, when we got there we we're way behind.>>The dinghy dock on the other side had about 100 dinghies tied up and =>the later folks wanted to get on the dock. Drunks in dinghies should =>be an Olympic event some would go slow and try to part the dinks =>already there then tie to the dock, some would just floor it and =>bounce off the other dinks until they couldn't go any further, then =>climb over what was left to the dock. Remember these folks are shit =>faced and watching them trying to climb over moving dinghies was =>hilarious. One poor lady had a few too many Buffalo Milks and after =>her boyfriend helped her down the ramp she climbed in the dink very =>lady like, on all fours skirt up around her waist and her ass sticking =>up like a stink bug. I of course wanted to illuminate her underwear =>with my flashlight but Linda said you could already see clearly.>>We returned to the deck to watch the pirates and wenches all dance. We =>decided to call it and night and save ourselves for Sat evenings =>festivities which we're told gets really wild. We will return to the =>dinghy dock Sat night as that was one of the most entertaining things =>we have seen in a while.>>On the scene at Cat Hbr, Pirate Rob & Wench Linda>>PS I had decided to grow my beard for this party and go as Greybeard, =>but when I looked in the mirror I looked like Santa in a pirate =>costume! it's just all white.>

Bus in El Salvador
Crossing Lago De Atitlan Linda's favorite hang out










Internet Cafe San Pedro

Cat Tails, Inland travel

Hi all, we have just returned from doing inland travel. We left the boat in Bahia Del Sol El Salvador, we were able to find someone to watch Captain Cubster for the time we were gone. Linda was worried about the poor old guy as he had gone blind on the trip from Mexico to El Salvador, however he did just fine and watching him walk around the boat you wouldn’t know he’s blind.

We departed Bahia Del Sol and headed into San Salvador the capital city of El Salvador where we spent the night in a hotel for 13 usd. The next morning at 0600 we took a taxi to the bus depot and purchased our tickets for Guatemala City which was a four and a half hour bus ride but in a very comfortable bus (we would come to learn this bus was the standard by which all others would be measured) big seats that recline, movies while traveling, AC, hot food, cold beverages, and all for 26usd!
As we crossed the border into Guatemala the conductor took our passports down to the immigration official so we didn’t even have to get up. We arrived at Guatemala City where a minivan was waiting for us to transport us to Panajachel on Lago Atitlan. Now the folks down here are wonderful however they are quite small in stature, a tall person is 5’-6, so it makes sense that they build vehicles for people that size, they also weigh less however they must have considerable more padding on their butts because after an hour of sitting on the one inch foam in that minivan my butt had gone to sleep then awoken and was screaming at me thru my sciatic nerve, it might have had something to do with the steel pipe under my ass! Oh well, only another hour and a half to go. “Sweetie pass the Advil and didn’t I put a bottle of rum in my backpack”….

The trip took us out of Guatemala City and up into the mountains but not before we stopped on the main highway three cars behind a carload of what I’m guessing were drug dealers, the cops were fighting with them on the freeway and it had reached the point that they had their weapons out and were threatening to shoot them!! I had slipped my shoes back on and was eyeing the door and the direction to run. Our driver had gotten very quiet and looked nervous but a few seconds later he slipped the van into gear and slid past the action as one cop was smacking a rather large man upside the head, I never looked back and the scenery for rest of the trip took my mind off my left leg which was howling. We got a short break for lunch about 2pm and then back into the van. When we arrived in Panajachel I fell out of the minivan and stumbled around for a minute I know the locals thought I was drunk but I swear I hadn’t touched the rum……..Yet.

It was now about 5pm and we loaded our backpacks into about a 25’ boat along with 20 other people and proceeded across Lago De Atitlan, which is a lake at 4600’ ringed by Volcanoes, very spectacular. About half way across the lake I could see the wind
building and for the last 10 minutes we bounced hard across the choppy water (remember they have no padding on seats in this country). We found a hotel on the lake for 100 Quetzals, which is about 12.50 usd. Following Dr Roy’s advice I medicated my tired butt with 4 ounces of good Rum. We then strolled the ¼ mile down a dirt trail to the Spanish school where we were enrolled for a week, they told us our host family would pick us up the next day. We awoke the next morning to a spectacular view from our room and after lounging in the hammock for a while I was having a hard time getting going, however we packed our backpacks and headed for the San Pedro Language school where we met our host family, Benjamin the husband led us thru town and up the side of a hill to their house, the hill we went up was so steep I got a nose bleed just looking at it! By the end of the week we would go up and down it four and five times a day and not blink, I think we could have scaled Mount Everest without breaking a sweat.

Now picture this you’re in a third world country people are still dressing the same way they have for hundreds of years, Linda’s teacher owned five native dresses called Cortas and they would probably last her her whole life. Some of the houses didn’t have running water, a lot of people washed their clothes in the lake on rocks, there were no large grocery stores and the streets were all cobble stone or dirt. BUT on the corner on the way to school was an internet café that is now the gold standard for Mochas. The first morning we stopped there I ordered a mocha, a local lady dressed in her native corta, guipil (the blouse) and a farja (the bright colored belt) brought my mocha out on a silver tray in a clear coffee cup in which you could see the layer of chocolate on the bottom followed by the coffee followed by the frothed milk, along side the cup was a long spoon to stir in the chocolate should you wish. Sitting at a resin table in a resin chair staring out at the lake and watching the people go by I felt very elegant. Starbucks has a long way to go to beat the flavor of that coffee which was grown and roasted right there in that little town. While sipping our coffees a young girl came by selling fresh cinnamon rolls, banana bread, carrot cake, coconut bread and pineapple bread. Each morning we would get coffee, cake, and then check our email (if the net was working) and then on to school for four hours each day. I would like to say we’re a whole lot smarter but it just made us realize how little Spanish we know and how much more school we need. However we sure had a good time, our host family was wonderful, they had three teenage boys and a sewing business that kept them busy. They had lots of questions about the USA and the difference in our cultures, but dinner time was the same as any house I have ever eaten in, Benajmin would tease his sons and one night when he was quietly kicking one under the table to get a rise out of him he almost died of embarrassment when he realized it was my foot he had been kicking, I had caught on to their little game and didn’t say anything until his son started laughing.

School would end each day at noon, we would pop back to the house for lunch and then go exploring around town. Rosa the host mother showed Linda a selection of the brightly colored native belts called Farja’s that her sister makes, Linda picked one that took ten days to make as it’s hand sewn and very pretty. (A girls gotta have a souvenir)

One day we took an afternoon trip to a small town called Santiago where we met Kathy a friend of a friend who gave us a tour of the small hospital. Kathy is a retired RN who donates her time to help run the little hospital in Santiago, after talking with Kathy and seeing their need we are thinking of going back there and volunteering, it would be a wonderful opportunity.

We left San Pedro and headed back across the lake taking a butt pounding on the hard seats once again and climbed into the same little minivan for the two hour ride to Antigua.

We spent three days in Antigua and had a great time the city is rich with history and has lots of old buildings, impressive churches and museums. We went to a fabric museum and learned all about the native weaving and how each town has it’s own colors. I know the guys are thinking “yea and how was the beer” but it truly was very interesting. Now one night we went out and a local bartender introduced me to Espresso Martinis WOW, Espresso, Kahula, triple sec and Vanilla Stoli one’s all you need…… However it was my fiftieth birthday so I had two and waddled back to the hotel. Antigua is also in the mountains and the volcano was active when we were there, smoke would belch out the top, we were hoping to see glowing lava come spurting out in the evening but no such luck.

After a screwup with the arrangements for bus tickets ( it seems I don’t understand the difference in AM & PM in Spanish) we left Antigua a day late on the same little crappy minivan for a two hour ride to Guatemala City to catch the nine hour bus ride to Santa Elana. After spending the night in a hotel we would once again get in another shitty little minivan along with 10 other folks and be herded off to Tikal the Mayan ruins, I was now starting to run low on Advil and despised those little vans. However……We arrived in Tikal and Life became wonderful, it seems all they had left in the park was a couple of first class rooms, we had been paying between 10 & 20 uds’s a night for rooms, this was 95usd a night, it was inside the national park where they would chase all the tourists out unless you were staying in the hotel. It was also the only way you could do the sunrise hike to the Mayan Temple. They would take you in by flashlight at 0445 with a guide who jogged most of the way and kept yelling “keep up, keep up”, we had been at altitude now for over a week and had scaled the hills of San Pedro, we could here the people behind us huffing and puffing, we chuckled and marched on thinking…bring it on pal. As we reached Temple four in the dark it was tough to see the top as it was thru the clouds and somewhere in the heavens (hence it’s name temple four) Half way up the steps of temple four the young lady next to me sprayed her breakfast over the side of the steps, I kept climbing and thought… knees don’t fail me now. We reached the top and took our spot on the top of the temple with a bunch of other folks and sat quietly to await sunrise. When the valley started to fill with light you could see forever as the temple is the highest point in the valley, the air was filled with the sounds of the jungle, that was something we will never forget, howler monkeys make a sound somewhat like a lions roar I thought we were on a safari in Africa. Once again third world meets first world, along with the sounds of the jungle the sounds of digital cameras and flashes were everywhere, I’m just thankful someone’s cell phone didn’t ring. We climbed all the temples in the park that day and thinking after temple four it would be a snap, we found out temple four was the easiest. I finished the Advil bottle that night along with a double prescription of Rum, Doctor Roy you did say 4 ounces didn’t you ??

While we were in the park they had a canopy tour, they put you in a harness, clip you to a zip line (a big wire) shove you off a very tall tower and send you flying thru the jungle 90’ off the ground. After you quit screaming you giggle all the rest of the way. We also did a bridge walk across the jungle canopy, our guide identifying lots of the trees and birds, very interesting. After two days in Tikal we were exhausted, we packed our backpacks once again climbed in that shitty little minivan and headed for Santa Elana to catch the Luxury bus with the big comfy reclining seats, movies, hot food and cold drinks for the nine hour ride to Guatemala City. Well, traveling in third world countries teaches you to be flexible!!!! It seems the bus broke down before it got to us, they did however manage to get another bus for us one and half hours later. While traveling in the bus we passed the big luxury bus along side the road, they were loading the passengers into one Nissan pickup and the luggage into another. Now I know you won’t believe you can get 25 people into the back Nissan pickup but I saw it with my own eyes. Linda pointed out how lucky we were to not be on the bus when it broke down. Oh and the bus we were on didn’t have the big comfy seats, movies, hot food and cold drinks, however they did give us a box of apple juice and a sandwich on bimbo(wonder) bread with cheese wiz for our nine hour trip.

We arrived in Guatemala City without hotel reservations, however the bus stops in a very seedy part of town so we got in a taxi and had them take us to the local Holiday Inn, where they smiled and relieved us of 95 usd for one night. I will say however it was worth every penny. The room was plush and had a huge marble bath tub, something Linda had been looking for for a very long time, gotta remember to drop them a line and recommend they have bubble bath in the room, we had to use shampoo…better than no bubbles!

The next morning we tried to catch the morning bus back to El Salvador but they didn’t have space available so we went to the zoo and caught the afternoon bus. We arrived in San Salvador in the evening and stayed at a nice little place for 13 usd . We spent the next two days cruising the museums and then doing some shopping for important things (clothes for Linda).

We’re currently sitting on the boat waiting for a window to travel south to Costa Rica.
Hope everyone is well, Love and hugs to all Rob & Linda… A couple of tired Cats

The birth of a live aboard

Many years ago: GOSH DEAR, why don't we buy a boat, SURE DEAR…..A small sailboat something we could spend weekends on, maybe a couple of weeks in the summer, it would be like camping on the sea.
SEVERAL YEARS LATER GOSH DEAR If we bought a bigger boat we could sail all year round, go further and have more fun!! SURE DEAR. In fact dear wouldn't it be fun if we bought a liveaboard then we could be on the water all year….
Sure dear anything you ….. ARE you out of your mind… live on a boat with two cats, our nine year old daughter and the two of us, you must be crazy…………
SEVERAL YEARS LATERWith a bigger boat, one cat and a teenage daughter. "So how about it sweetie, what do you think about living aboard?" Not a chance until our daughter graduates and moves out.
THE DAY AFTER GRADUATIONGOSH DEAR so how about this liveaboard thing? Well let me think about it……..One week later, I've been thinking about this. where would I put all my stuff? Stuff dear what do you mean stuff? You know clothes, shoes important stuff. And furthermore how would I get ready for work my hairdryer won't work unless we're at the dock.(this is the part I love the best) WELL DEAR, I was thinking I would add a bigger battery bank with an inverter and just in case a small generator. Wow, won't that be noisy? Well, yes, but we would only need to run it if there isn't any sun. Sun? well with the new solar panels we're adding they should take care of charging the batteries. Oh I see. Well lets give it a try. Great dear, oh, one other thing… I called a realtor, I didn't think it made much sense to let the house sit empty, so I thought we should sell it…..…WHAT @%@%*&*^
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER Well dear what are you going to do with all those shoes, how many pairs do you think you need to live on a boat? Now I know going from 50 to 5 pairs is a big leap but just think how easy the choice will be with only five.
Now moving aboard in Washington state in November is just plain stupid, it's the worst weather grey, raining and cold. But move onboard we did. Our first problem was the cat, up until now he had used the huge yard as his litter box. Can you teach an old cat new tricks? Yep he knew right what to do, (why aren't baby's that easy).
Well we moved onboard my wife filled the main stateroom hanging locker and all the shelves with her stuff, I was relegated to the aft cabin. However since I had cleaned out my closet at home I didn't need much space. Embracing this new life style I had gotten rid of all my suits, dress shirts and most of my shoes. If it wasn't a tee shirt, shorts or fleece it went to the local thrift store. I'm fortunate I work for a fire department they supply all my uniforms and they're laundered at work and then live in my locker at the station.
My poor wife still has to wear office type clothes. Now, she used to be known as a fairly sharp dresser and got a lot of nice comments from her coworkers. Now she hears things like, wow, that's umm… interesting. Now me, I think old topsiders with hose and a skirt look good.
Her boss still hasn't noticed the three large boxes in her office which casually layed computer manuals on top of to hide the fact that she was using her office as a storage unit.
Well we have some of the basic routines down now, being in the marina for the winter has helped. But I hoping my wife remembers to consult the tide tables when she goes shopping. It seems she shows up with a couple of hundred dollars worth of groceries on a minus tide and I need repelling gear to haul the groceries to the boat.
Winter storms in the Pacific Northwest can be brutal but living aboard we have become one with nature , unless it's blowing over 60 we don't even wake up.
As I started to become a little older some things don't work quite as well, I use to think of having to get up in the middle of the night to pee as a real annoyance. Onland what once interrupted my sleep is now my ticket to star gazing. There are only two liveaboards in our small marina. The silence is wonderful only broken by the otters playing tag on the docks, George the resident heron squawking when he goes fishing and the young seal who chases fish in between our two hulls. (we live on a cat) Finally using the outside restroom naked in 35 degree weather is a positively shrinking experience.
Well, summer's here, were quitting our jobs and going cruising full time, the last six months have been very enlightening. So far it's been amazing to see all the things we could live without, I wonder if they will ever open those three boxes my wife left covered with manuals in her office… come to think of it I wonder what was in them ………