journal

Monday March 31, 2009

Well what a time we have had! Since our last blog, we have recovered from our exhaustion and devastation and are once again moving forward. I think if we were ever to have another boat, we would call it Endurance!

I could only sleep a few hours after we were rafted to the tugboat barge, so rather than fight it, I got up and began to sort through the mess. A few hours later the inside cabin looked back to normal and the cockpit relatively so. Jim woke, looked around, and couldn´t believe how good everything looked, he thought perhaps the whole event had been a dream! But as he was looking around, I was on the radio speaking to the coast guard making plans on our checking in and how we were to handle the authorities and our little incident from the night before.

Within a few hours, we were boarded by the owner of the tug boat and the second in command of the Port Authority office. They could not have been more gracious or helpful. An hour later they had arranged a water taxi service for us, ( our dinghy once again out of commision ) a mechanic to fix the engine, plans to find us a mooring ball, move us there, names of restaurants and let our minds rest, that we could check in any time that would be convenient for us!

The wind was still quite strong and no taxi´s were going out....just as well, we spent the rest of the day, sleeping and winding down.

The following day, yesterday, we were picked up by the water taxi, which is actually a glass bottom tour boat...the Port Authority office has made arrangements, that they are to pick us up, when we request them. So, to town we went, strolled, ate and found the local internet cafe. Generally, you could say we put our problems, way behind us and just relaxed and played tourista.

Today, we joined the tour, three bags of laundry in hand and joined the tour boat for our ride to town. After dropping off the laundry, and checking the huge ferry boat, that towed us, if they had some of our missing lines, we headed to the Port Authority office to finally, officially check into Mexico.

We were greeted by the man who had boarded the boat and shortly after led into the Captain of the Port Authority´s office. The room was filled with officials and we were invited to sit down. The captain then proceeded to tell us the events that led up to them finally rescuing us. There was a chart on his desk, with times and waypoints, beginning with our first call at 1600, with Margoline written beside. They had called the Navy, but they were 50 miles away. They have no rescue boats, so, that is how the ferry boat and the tug boat were brought into this rescue mission. As well, a speed boat, was also sent out to look for us. We had no idea at the time, how seriously they took this. We also had no idea how the currents in the area, which they knew, could wreak havock on us, especially if the wind died and we no longer had control of the boat. They were all on the ferry at the time of finding us, as well as the  ferry crew that had just finished thier final crossing of the day. It was obvious they felt very badly about the damage to Margoline, but given that we were dealing with 30 knot winds, a three story 120 foot boat and a 45 foot sailboat, we actually didn´t come out to badly...after all, we are fine and no one was hurt. A report will be written, and we will sign it, as well as we are to write up our own report and send to them. The captain is hoping all this will help with the local polititions, to increase thier limited budget for resuce missions such as this. Before leaving, pictures were taken of us with the Port Authority Captain and around the desk with the charts and tools used to find us. We left with more good wishes and assurance´s that anything we need, we are just to ask. We feel so lucky that now the damage seems the least of our problems. The mechanic is due to arrive today at 2:00 and I´m in town, playing tourista again......shopping!

So the adventures of Margoline continue!

Saturday March 28, 2009

Saturday March 28

 

We departed Middle Long Cay at

7:45

last Thursday, fully rested after our nighttime departure from

Cucumber

Beach

, and were under full sail by

10:00 a.m.

And what a glorious sail we had, with winds between 15 and 25 knots, sunny skies and relatively moderate seas, we were really moving! Shortly after lunch however, the seas began to swell to heights of up to 10 feet, and the winds increased to 30 – 40 knots. By late afternoon, the auto-pilot could not keep up, and we were left to take turns hand steering through the now sustained winds of 35 – 45 knots, with gusts up to 49. The large rollers were now crashing over us at regular intervals. It seemed, just as we dried out, another one would come crashing over us. Our plans changed rapidly as did the weather.

Earlier, when the winds were still in the 25 knot range, and we were still in shorts and tee shirts, I chose to “relieve myself” over the side to avoid nausea down below. Not too pretty, but it’s better than getting sea sick. As the day proceeded and it got cooler and wetter, we were now in full four weather gear, including harnesses. To relieve you, with all that paraphernalia on is much more of a task. To “do it” over the side, with 40 knot winds…. near impossible! So, below I went, when I could hold it no more. Just as I finished (thank goodness for small things!) slam! We were hit by a huge wave and I was thrown across the head and slammed into the side wall, with my butt stuck to the toilet seat, ( it came with me ) my pants still around my ankles, the lid off to the other side, and me wedged into the corner with my feet in the air. So this could be really not a good thing or funny…once I got myself out of the mess I was in, I decided it was funny and could only think of what a great U-Tube video this would have made. As I entered back into the cockpit, some time later, Jim asked if everything was ok. I replied, “Well let’s just say, that Ann, Queen of the Seas, has been dethroned.” After the explanation, Jim was in hysterics and throughout the rest of the day, could be found, laughing, (to himself) just thinking about my “little incident” in the head.

Day soon turned into night, and we continued to battle the wind and seas. I have to say, Jim was at the helm most of the night, while I napped on and off in the cockpit. By morning, Jim was exhausted, but needed to check the charts and find somewhere that we could enter safely to anchor. We decided on

Cozumel

. I thought we’d never get there… the winds kept howling, and the seas, well, those were “f….kin” big waves!

Upon entering into

Cozumel

, just before sundown, we decided it was time to start the engine as we would be anchoring soon.  You cannot imagine, the look that passed between Jim and I, when the engine did not start.  Once again, it appeared, we had water in the engine that caused, yet another hydro block! This really can’t be happening to us, after all the work that we have had done! Now, exhausted, only with sail power and losing daylight fast, we were anxious to find a place to settle for the night. We got no response from the marina or any cruisers in the anchorage. As we passed an anchorage, we finally reached the Harbor Master, who told to continue north, I wanted to stop. Jim wanted to follow the Harbor Master’s suggestion., an almost mutiny situation. Jim informed him that we would need assistance in getting in, as it was now dark and we were not familiar with the anchorage he was suggesting. He responded that he would find a boat to assist us. We continued to sail north along the

shore

of

Cozumel

until we reached the end of the island, it was clear, the anchorage that we were in while talking to him, was the one we were supposed to be in! We now turned back south got caught in a very strong current, and with the winds now on our nose, found it impossible to re-enter the anchorage. From time to time, he would radio to us, that a boat was on its way. By

midnight

, Jim and I were no longer speaking to each other. We had been under sail for almost two days. We were debating whether to wait for assistance, continue on to Isla Mujeres, try for Puerto Morelas or “lay the boat to” for the night, drift and wait until dawn…all we knew was we both wanted to stop and sleep! Winds continued to hover around 30 -  40 knots and the seas remained large and frightening.

Finally,  about

1:00 a.m.

we saw the bright search lights of our :rescue boat.” It was not quite the rescue boat we thought….it was a huge three storey passenger ferry boat. I could go into great detail about the circus that went on for the next FOUR hours, but it’s really too painful to repeat.

The end result was this; they left us tethered to a tug barge in the harbor at

5:30

in the morning.  They put numerous large gouges in the fiber glass, and bright work, rammed the dinghy into the stern, bending the davits, bending the swim ladder, and damaging the dinghy, tearing lines,  ripped off parts of our wood cap rail,  smashed the bow sprite running lights, and chipped paint on various parts of our top sides. Jim, most unlike himself, became almost catatonic during all this and just watched. I went from being catatonic myself, to waving my arms about frantically trying to tell them to “just stop”, and fender everything in site. At one point I was actually touching, and trying to push back their anchors, as their bow was almost touching our boom. Like I was going to be able to do anything with a boat that size! It was a nightmare of magnanimous proportions.

We fell into bed by

6:00 a.m.

with the boat in a complete mess. Wet clothes, dirty dishes, lines everywhere, empty pop tins, loose items strewn about, and everything, including the floors, and mirrors encrusted in salt. The broken toilet seat and lid,  (which at one point seemed funny) added to the overall chaos, and even our bed, had somehow gotten wet. With everything we have been through so far, this was our lowest moment. Our beautiful, magnificent Margoline, now felt like a junk. We were devastated. As the tears fell from our eyes, we went to bed speechless and exhausted.

March 25,2009

Wed March

25 March 2009

 

As I write, it is

two o’clock

in the afternoon. We are safely and quietly anchored off  Middle Long Cay, after a horrendous start for our journey home.

 I just woke up, I’m still tired, sore and ache all over. Jim, feels just about the same. About our arrival here…it all started last night, we think it must have been around

10:00 p.m.

.

In howling winds and huge seas, Margoline, ( now the only boat left in the anchorage outside of Cucumber Beach Marina ) had once again dragged. Jim, who wasn’t yet asleep, woke me up, and just like the night before,  we readied ourselves to pull up the roving anchor and reset it into firmer and deeper ground. It took us about half an hour in all to do this, and go back to bed on Monday night. Later that day, we also learned, “Mystic Adventure” had also dragged, and moved during the night.

This time however, the winds were so strong, once the anchor was up, we could not maneuver the boat further out to reset the anchor. Huge swells were moving us closer and closer to shallow waters and the stone and rock breakwall. No matter how we tried, we could not power ourselves against the strong winds and seas. Jim put out a “pan pan” over the radio.  A “pan  pan” is like a “ May Day,”  Only “May Day” is when someone on the boat is in severe, and life threatening trouble. A “pan pan” is when a vessel is in severe and threatening trouble” and Jim was almost sure we were going to crash into the breakwall. The harbor master could do nothing for us, as he had no boat, but he would call the Belize Coast Guard, to see what they could do. Other cruisers in the marina also responded, but other than a few suggestions, ( such as deploy a second anchor, which we couldn’t do without someone else helping us in a boat ) there was nothing anyone could do to help us.

The Harbor Master did tell us to get into

Cucumber

Beach

for safety as soon as possible, but after learning that we are too deep a draft to get in, he had no other solutions for us.

Shortly after, we did manage to get the anchor reset, and seemed somewhat settled. By this time the coast guard showed up, in an unlit boat ( typical ) They informed us,  to get out of the harbor, as the weather was only  going to get worse, and we would most certainly drag again and find ourselves in more trouble.

So out to sea in the night we went, in huge rolling seas and up to 30 knot winds. With no sleep, and two previous sleepless nights, we were certainly not prepared to do what had to do!

But luckily the auto pilot worked, and we took turns at the helm, taking short naps in the now very wet cockpit. We grabbed rain gear and warmer clothes as we could. In all of this, no hatches were closed or portholes….so the boat became a slippery mess, sodden with wet clothes, towels and blankets. What a nightmare.

We arrived safely at Middle Long Cay, and anchored with no issues around

8:00

in the morning. We were just in time to hear the cruiser’s net on the single side band radio to hear the weather and check in. “Sepapu”  a boat we met while cruising over the years and is now docked at

Cucumber

Beach

requested “traffic” with us. ( that means requesting to speak to someone during the net ) The knew we were in trouble in the anchorage when the winds and seas picked up, and were glad to know we moved, and were now safely anchored. The net is a very good thing for cruisers for many things, but especially to keep tabs on vessels under way. They will continue to check our whereabouts twice a day, ( we give them our longitude and latitude both times as well as sea and wind conditions ) until we reach our final destination safely.

 After some hot coffee and delicious banana bread, while Jim showered, I stripped the now soaked bed, and remade it ( a huge undertaking in it self! ) then I showered….and in very calm waters and a slight breeze slept until now,

2 pm

. Now that I’ve written this, still tired, I’m going back to bed!

We both woke up around

4:00

and after a few chores to clean up around the boat, we had a delicious dinner, prepared for an early start tomorrow and headed back to bed!

Tuesday March 24, 2009

We have fueled up, watered up, provisioned and most importantly, had a successful sea trial, just this morning, with our new turbo engine! So, with that all done, we leave first thing tomorrow morning for Mexico.

 The last few days here in Belize, the wind and seas have picked up considerably, making it very rolly and uncomfortable in the anchorage. Last night, we did the hobby horse thing all night. If you have not experienced this, it feels like you ( and the boat ) are hanging on a bungee cord, bouncing up and down constantly. Needless to say, neither of us has had a good nights sleep for a few days! Once underway, it will be much better. ( we hope anyway! )

The trip should take us 2 to 3 days. We will not be stopping, and will have no internet until we reach our destination, the El Cid Marina in Puerto Morales Mexico. We will be moving the arrow on the map though for you to see where we are.

See you in Mexico!

Monday March 23, 2009

Yesterday we spent the day ferrying diesel fuel in jerry jugs, to the boat via the dinghy as we can’t take Margoline into the marina. Eight jerry jugs per load, five gallons per jug, and we did four runs. One hundred and thirty gallons in total, as the last run we only brought two jugs back. We’ll never pass up a chance to fill directly from a marina again! Laundry and internet was done also at the same time. I think we began this process shortly before

noon

and finished just before dark. In between runs, we did two loads of laundry, emailing, and visiting with friends from the boat “Mystic Adventure” who had just arrived and were checking into the marina. They too are anchored outside, right behind us. We met them last year while in Bocas Del Toro.

Today we have three men on board. Two are working on installing the new turbo charger and one is working on the auto pilot. I am polishing the stainless, and Jim is the “go

to guy” for everyone.

Two hours later, we have a working auto pilot! Three wires in the cockpit were corroded.  The two previous mechanics missed this in their attempt to fix it.

Sunday March 22, 2009

 

We took the first water taxi from

Belize City

over to San Pedro yesterday at

8:00 a.m.

An hour later, few passengers got off at Cay Caulker and within a half and hour we arrived at the docks at San Pedro. San Pedro is a neat little town with lots of hotels, beaches, stores and restaurants. It was just what we needed to get away from the filth of

Belize City

and “no-see-um’s” that attack with a vengeance at

Cucumber

Beach

, where we are presently anchored.

We had a wonderful breakfast in a little beach restaurant and then walked up and down the beach until we reached the Belize Yacht Club. We had hoped to be able to go there, on our way north from Belize City, but after looking at it and talking with people there, there is no way Margoline will be able to get in because of the shallow waters. So will have to re-think our voyage home, and plan another place to anchor, as that is it for marina’s until we get to

Mexico

.

Other than a light rain, while we were eating breakfast, the weather was perfect. We have had two rainfalls during the night, since arriving here, which for this time of the year, is most unusual. We also had another downpour this morning.

We will have to fill “jerry jugs” and 5 gallon jugs of water and transport them to the boat to fill up, as we can’t take the boat into a dock. Today will be spent for the most part, doing the fuel run. Tomorrow, the water man arrives, and we’ll do the water run ...lots of slugging over the next two days. We’ll also haul the laundry into the marina, which apparently has coin operated machines…I can’t wait to see what they look like!

There are now three other boats anchored by us, just outside the marina entrance. We feel much less vulnerable out here alone, and our new solar lights work perfectly. It has been somewhat of a blessing to be out here, rather than inside the marina. The bugs, especially the “no-see-ums” are vicious in the marina, and, there have been two more boating mishaps in the narrow marina since our arrival. Two large yachts hit other boats, at different times while maneuvering out of their slips. One incident we happened to be there when it happened. We watched, as did others, as it was so unbelievable.  He backed out, hit the neighboring boat, a large catamaran, and then pulled back into his slip, then pulled out again, hitting it once more!  Then he hit the boat across the slip on the other side with his stern, and continued up the channel to leave. The lack of concern or care was unbelievable. We have not seen such incompetence at a marina before. So we’re actually glad to be outside the circus of Cucumber Beach Marina.

 

Friday March 20, 2009

 

We pulled up the anchor at

7:45

yesterday. With no wind, and no seas, we arrived outside the Cucumber Beach Marina entrance shortly before

noon

. With such calm conditions, we were able to motor at 1900 RPM’s and maintain a speed of about 4 ½ knots. While waiting for high tide to cross the sand bar at the entrance, another boat while exiting, went aground, and the boat towing it over the bar, inadvertently got run over by the sailboat and sunk. The sailboat, we later learned, has a hole in its hull and is taking on water. They were on their way out, and now, their not going anywhere. This fiasco caused quite a commotion at the marina, as you can imagine.They informed us shortly afterwards, that there was no way, even at high tide, that we could enter into the marina.

I was so looking forward to hooking up to unlimited fresh water and electricity, and being able to step off the boat onto solid ground for a change. But it was not to be. So, with great disappointment, we anchored just off the entrance, and took the dinghy into the marina. They offered us use of all the marina facilities, but, by the looks of it, we’ll only use their wireless and possibly the bar! Needless to say, it was not as great as we had been led to believe. We met two Canadian men from Vancouver, who now live in Belize. Both had great suggestions and names of people that could possibly help us with our continuing B & G instruments,  that continue to be unreliable. (Mainly, the non-functioning auto pilot) and transiting to

Florida

.

With an early start this morning, we headed off by taxi to Fed Ex to sign custom forms, for them to pick up the turbo charger that has arrived, and is being held at the airport. Then off to The Port Authority, where didn’t have to go, then to immigration, where we were told to go, but also didn’t need to go and then to customs, where we finally were able to extend our visitors visa once again. Although the first and second stops weren’t necessary, it did give us a tour of the city.

Belize City

, is poor, dirty, and has nothing to offer. We do not want to stay here! We deposited ourselves at the only nice hotel in the city, The Raddison, to wait to hear from Fed Ex.

After coffee in their cafe, Jim called Fed Ex to see about our package. They informed him, as the item shipped was over fifteen hundred dollars, we would need to fax over our ships papers, ( which we thankfully had with us )  and “some time” to go through customs. Fed Ex here is closed Saturday and Sunday….it doesn’t look like we will be getting our turbo charger anytime soon…..once again, deflated, we walked to the pier, and watched a large charter dive boat dock. While docking, we chatted with a deckhand, who later told us about a great local restaurant to go to for lunch, which we did, and was excellent. The fifteen minute walk to the restaurant however, was hot and uncomfortable. Beggars are everywhere and continually harassed us, even during our lunch, while sitting by the open barred window, a man, thrust his arm through, and begged for my leftover rice and beans. The waitress closed the window and curtains, while telling the man to go away. It was awful.

Then we went to an internet café and got some emails sent out and once again called the girl at Fed Ex. This time, she informed Jim, that they would need a security guard to pick up the package from the airport and deliver it, which would cost more money. Jim said no problem…now we had some hope, that we would actually receive the package by

5 pm

today. We called Phil, the mechanic, who will install it, and were moderately disappointed that he can’t do the work until Monday. But we decided to fill our time with a visit to San Pedro. We bought tickets for the water taxi and will spend the day there tomorrow. So, we filled the rest of the time by having a celebratory beer by the docks, grabbing a taxi, picking up some supplies at a marine store, and some solar lights at a hardware store before heading back to Fed Ex. We arrived at Fed Ex at 4:30, where they told us the package was now on it’s way to Cucumber Beach Marina…the original address, before all this run around began. As we pulled into the gates of the marina, the Fed Ex delivery man was right there, ready to leave. You can’t imagine how relieved we now are to have the new turbo in hand! We are now back on the boat, much more relaxed after what started out as a terrible day, and turned into a great day. Ah, the power of persistence and positive thinking!

 

 

Wed March 18, 2009

We pulled up the anchor at 7:00 a.m. Waving goodbye to Yoli from her bar, we finally made our long awaited exit from Placentia. We’re heading north, we’re heading home! There was no wind, so thank God we had a working engine, and are were able to maintain 2200 RPM’s and 5 – 6 knots, with no black smoke or loud whistling. There was a strange haze in the sky, and seemed to get more and more overcast the further north we got. The water was dead calm…oily looking….the calm before the storm? Over time, the skies eventually cleared and we had a lovely motor sail all the way to our first anchorage. We saw quite a few long narrow silver colored fish, that actually danced across the water, upright, on their tails. It was quite a sight, and reminded me of the Road Runner. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it before. We also came across a pod of dolphins. We were hoping they would play with us, but they must have found good eating, because they stayed in the same place, and ignored us. We dropped anchor at Middle Long Cay in 12’ of water at 5:00 pm. It took over an hour to get into where we wanted to anchor, as the depth of the water decreased miles out from the Cay. With our deep draft, we have to be very careful of going aground. Once there and settled, we watched a beautiful sunset, with a drink, followed by a yummy dinner, and bed very shortly after. It was a good day, long, (10 hrs) but great to be back on the road again!

Tuesday March 17th 2009

 

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

I wrote in the blog yesterday,”at least it’s stopped raining” I had no longer packed up the computer and gotten back to the boat when the sky clouded over and the rain began to fall. It’s my fault for saying that of course….what was I thinking??? When it rains on a boat it means a number of things. First you have to scramble around, often in the middle of the night, closing all the hatches, shutting the portholes and the big one, closing the companionway, which on Margoline, means going up top, getting wet, and pulling it closed. The boat, even with the fans running, gets very stuffy. We could turn on the AC, but it takes a tremendous amount of power, which needs the generator to be on at the same time, which is noisy, so we usually just live with the fans. (Is this wining?) The other thing rain means, is usually the wind kicks up. We either rock side to side, like in a cradle, which isn’t too bad actually. Sometimes if it’s a gentle rock, it’s quite soothing and puts me to sleep. Or sometimes we rock front to back, like a hobby horse, which is really a pain. Other times, you just rock and roll every which way and this feels like you are in a washing machine. Really uncomfortable! Too add to all that, you hear the wind howling outside and the sound of the anchor chain, echoing below the water. I counted last night, it sounds like a loud single hit on a huge drum, at five second intervals….given the right mind set, it can either put you to sleep ( like counting sheep ) or drive you crazy.

The other thing rain and wind on a boat does is make you worry about, dragging, (you or some other nearby boat) hitting something, or going aground. Or if you’re at port, hitting the dock, or the boat beside you, no matter how many fenders you or your neighbor has.

Actually this whole cruising thing could turn anyone into a nervous wreck. Luckily, we still have our wits about us, and although we scratch our heads at times, we are still game, and plan to continue on, instead of sinking the boat and flying home.

So tomorrow we leave…first thing, no breakfast, no coffee, just pull up the anchor and get out of town! Himey comes on board tonight, to exchange the injectors. The Moorings loaned us one of theirs to try. Both work, so we might as well save the extra six hundred dollars, and go with our old, but refurbished one. I will also ask Himey, who is a reverend, when he’s not being a mechanic, to bless the boat, the engine, Jim, myself and anything else that will help us get to our next destination, trouble free!

Yoli and her husband, Reagan, with Karen and Mike, ( Yoli regulars ) will visit the boat today, and we’ll have our final dinner in

Placentia

tonight at Yoli’s restaurant. We’ll be gone, before Yoli’s rooster or anyone else is up tomorrow and on our way to

Belize City

and Cucumber Beach Marina. The trip should take a full two days, possibly three, so until then, ( I know you are riveted to this site ) there will be no more blogs. We want fair winds, calm seas and no boat problems…not too much to ask for, but if you could also ask for that, for us, it might just help!

Monday March 16, 2009

Well, we had Uncle Phil look at the engine the other day and he got the old girl going again. We had another short sea trial and once again, could not get above 1900 RPM's without black/oily smoke exiting from the exhaust. But at least he got it going. The water that keeps entering the engine is all caused be a terribly located syphon hose, which he has now relocated, into the galley sink ( I hope that's temporay! ) The loud annoying whistle, that we have been complaining of to all our past mechanics, was finally addressed by Phil...it's the turbo charger. So, another part will need to be ordered in from the States! This is beyond, beyond, if you know what I mean. We are now going to proceed with our plans to sail to Belize this Wednesday morning, with a somewhat working motor, even though it can only get up to 1900, we should, if  we need the engine, be able to get up to about 3 knots. The plan is basically to sail most of the way and only use the engine if we have to. It should take 3 days to sail to Belize, where we'll meet up with Phil, ( who lives there ) and the newly arrived Turbo from the States. ( we hope it arrives by then ) We will be staying at Cucumber Beach Marina, which will be a nice change from rolling around in an anchorage, which we have been doing for over 2 months! We will most likely need assistance in getting in however, as there is a sand bar to the entrance and the depth is only 6'. ( we draw 6' 7 ) Even at high tide, we'll need someone to pull us over to "slide" over the bar....sigh.....more to think about......at least the rain has stopped....