Leaving the Caribbean

Wow, hard to believe. Trish and I have sailed Bristol Rose 5,000 miles and are about to leave the Caribbean. With Owen, Elliot and Rex, we are about to enter Colon Harbor, Panama where we will prepare to transit the Panama Canal. For us it is a time of mixed emotions, to be leaving the now familiar Caribbean and the many good friends we have made along the way, as we begin our long awaited return to the Pacific Ocean; the ocean we fondly think of as our home waters. As we sadly say goodbye to the Americas we think just as fondly of our chosen home for the past 13 years in North America, and the good friends we hope to see again. Across the Pacific lies our homeland Australia, about 8,000 miles and 6 months away.

Escape from Acuadup

Bristol Rose is a lone boat, anchored in the lee of Acuadup, close to the shore. What an experience to see a traditional Kuna Village and its people. Huts with dirt floors are packed in around the shoreline, cooking fires inside the huts, pigs kept in pens, dug-out canoes lining the shoreline. The larger community huts are in the interior of the small island. At night only the lights from fires and flashlights can be seen.

On our walk through the village the people are friendly, mostly with retailing on their minds. Approaching a hut, women bring out Molas to sell. If you want a photo, $1 thank-you. Volley ball is very popular with the people on Acuadup. Children of all ages play in the walk ways, volley ball nets are set up outside huts.

Trish is not saying how many photos she is taking, but at $1 each we won't have too many to sort through. We are also approached by one lady and asked to re-charge her cellphone. This we do and are successful in returning the phone. Then another asks to have a phone charged, and another. Oh dear, you can see where this is going to end up. Interestingly, we did not receive requests for milk, canned food, or any other item despite the fact that food does not appear to be all that plentiful. The Kuna have little in the way of possessions and huts are furnished simply with hammocks.

We stay anchored overnight off the quiet village of Acuadup. Next morning we plan to leave but not before printing off a couple of photos to give to the people who posed for Trish at $1 per shot. Once photos are distributed we'll leave for Dog Island.

When others on the island see the photos, word spreads like wild fire through the village. Babies and adults are dressed up. Children run out from their huts beckoning Trish to follow. Everyone cries, "photo, photo". No more requests for $1. Photo madness takes over. Trish is welcomed into huts with requests to photograph so many adored babies. Each shot is eagerly viewed on the digital screen with the subjects sometimes asking for a different pose, a close up, a full length shot, more children, in front of the canoe, etc.


Before we get back to Bristol Rose over 700 photos are shot and we have another cellphone to charge. The reality sets in. We only have 100 sheets of 6x4 photo paper. The rest of the day is spent sorting and printing photos. We do our best to print photos that contain multiple people, sadly realizing that we will not be able to please everyone.


It is afternoon, Trish is mobbed as she hands out the photos, with still more requests coming in. Luckily, Trish did not take her camera with her for the delivery. We must move on so we say our goodbyes and head back to Bristol Rose, weigh anchor and escape. Lesson learned, be careful what you wish for; be ready to oblige for ALL when you unwittingly offer anything to anybody or be prepared to look in the face of disappointment.

So what's it really like?

Putting the Monitor to work

Day 3 of WARC. Bristol Rose and crew are 325nm West of St Lucia. Getting ready to leave was very busy with safety inspection to pass, final provisioning, numerous farewell parties and getting mentally prepared to cross the Caribbean Sea.

The past year of sailing to weather did not prepare us too well for what was to come. 1100nm of down wind sailing in 20 to 30kt winds and 8-10 ft swell. The sea is typical Caribbean, short and steep. We have experimented with different sail configurations, none are real comfortable in these conditions. We are currently averaging 7kts for the first 300nm with a maximum speed of over 10 kts surfing down waves.

The crew are doing fine, with the extra people we are settling in on a 4 hour watch schedule that is enabling much needed rest.




Yesterday afternoon was exciting as we caught our first Mahi Mahi of the cruise. Fresh fish for dinner is always welcome aboard Bristol Rose.

Leaving St. Lucia

We won't be too sad to leave St. Lucia. In about 24 hours we'll leave our slip for the start of the rally. It sure feels like we've been preparing for the World ARC Rally and looking forward to the Pacific for long enough. The Bristol Rose team are excited to begin.

Mullet, mouths open, swimming in formation round and round the docks

Water taxi art

The Versatile T-shirt, message on a motor

The homes around the marina remind me of the canals on Queensland's Gold Coast

Gorgeous tropical flowers grow outside the ARC office, a big sky-blue painted container - cool!

Banana plant with a lovely bunch of bananas almost ready to eat

Ever seen an avocado as big as this? Creamy, perfect flavor and gorgeous coloring. Locals come around in their wooden boats selling beauties like this.

Communications Along the Way

Looking towards the mega dock at Rodney Bay Marina

Once we leave Rodney Bay, St. Lucia and get underway on our seven months journey to Australia with the World ARC, we expect communications and blog updates will become more difficult to accomplish.

We are about to embark upon the first leg, from St. Lucia to Kuna Yala, (the name the Kuna Indians prefer for the San Blas Islands). Depending on the winds, this should take at least a week, perhaps more. We’ll try to post reports while underway. Uploading photographs will only be possible when we have strong wifi connections.

ARC boats will transit the Panama Canal from January 21 - 27, 2010. Bristol Rose is scheduled for January 25. We're looking forward to the experience and hoping all goes well. We'll be in the company of not just the other World ARC boats but also some seriously big commercial ships.

Friends, family and faithful readers can travel with us through our 4 blogs, especially this one. To find out where we are headed next, check out:

Bristol Rose Float Plan

Robert should be able to continue to log our position with our SSB. You can check our location by clicking on:

Where is Bristol Rose/Position Report

and

World ARC Tracking

We may even find time to update our book and movie sharing blog which we have neglected of late:

The Laundry Library

Our B.Y.O.G. Wine and Food blog wouldn’t be the same without pictures but we’ll do what we can to share the delights of the galley while underway and in the islands.

Look out for different crew perspectives on the Bristol Rose blog when Rex, Elliot and Owen have their say. If you are interested in primitive skills and wilderness awareness of the islands of the Pacific (and recently, the Caribbean) check out Owen’s cool blog:

Ancestral Skills

You will find loads of info on the World ARC plus updates from our fellow participants at the official website:

World Cruising, World ARC 2010-2011

As well as keeping our own blogs updated, we’ll be sharing our experiences on the daily logs page of the World ARC official site:

Daily Logs

Above links are on our main blog; look down the right-hand column and click.

Go to the very bottom of the page and click on the Crew Connection envelope if you want to email. We’ll be looking out for (and looking forward to) your emails and comments on the blogs.

So for now, it’s a couple of days to go and still last minute stuff to do before the fleet sails out on Wednesday at noon. Forecast is for light winds. Let’s hope there’s wind to sail!

From Minnesota to St. Lucia and Maryland, Thanks to Friends

Marigot Bay

Christmas with our Minnesotan Mates, Dawn, Nora, Ian and Mike

The highlight of our time in St. Lucia has been catching up with friends. Having a week with Dawn, Mike, Nora and Ian, in Marigot Bay was a lot of fun and a very special time for us. Our friendship spans 13 years from the day we moved into our house in Minnesota, "fresh off the boat" from Australia. Dawn and I gardened and shopped together, Mike and Robert drank wine, fished and swapped stories (whoppers) together and the young ones did what they do best, messed about and had a lot of fun.

Ceiling detail, Marigot Bay home

Mike and Dawn have been the best of friends over the years. We laughed together through so many firsts in the US, like the day Mike helped us tame the dragon in the basement. We'd never experienced a basement before, let alone a roaring furnace in a basement the size of a Sydney single-fronted. Who knew you have to change a filter regularly?

The house in Marigot Bay is circular.

Then there was the snowy winter's day when we called Mike and Dawn to identify the cute little, furry creature our naturalist, Elliot caught hopping through the snow. Not a bunny, crikies, it's a vole. He didn't know they bite. We'll never forget Dino Land and the boys' arch rival Barbie Land. This is no place to tell all, you'll have to ask quietly about that episode. There are lingering nightmares that go something like this; "neighborhood boys scarred for life by invaders from Barbie Land".

Dinosaurs v's Barbie Land Bandits



The Ronningen's got to sail Bristol Rose from Marigot to Rodney Bay

We have no photographs to prove it but we know Dawn and Mike went above and beyond quite literally to help us get Miss Daisie to Maryland on their way back to Minnesota. Making the decision not to take Daisie across the Pacific was hard but necessary. Those many days at sea, the longest of which will be the leg from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, a distance of 2980 miles, (15 to 22 days) are hard on a dog who is longing to see, smell and feel the dirt under her paws.

Bristol Rose on the mooring at Marigot Bay

Daisie's next journey is from Miami to Maryland, tomorrow. There she will be met by our dear friend Donna. We hope that Donna, Rick, Daniel and Leah will enjoy the time with Daisie. There's no doubt Daisie will be very pleased to see them. She remembers the time she spent with the family when she was just a puppy. She's always excited to see Donna.

Hummingbird

Daisie Waits in Miami

Daisie should be on her way to Maryland. She is stranded in Miami. With temperatures forecast below 20 degrees F, the airlines will not take her. Cargo is climatically controlled however during loading and unloading, she could be on the tarmac too long.

Missing Little Miss Daisie

Elliot and Daisie ready for a swim in Bequia

It's Sunday morning and Miss Daisie is nowhere in sight. We're missing her.

Daisie left with our friends, the Ronningens, on New Year's Eve and thanks to their loving care, made it safely to Miami. A pet transport company was ready to keep her until her flight to Maryland on Saturday. Our friends in Maryland, the Weavers, will care for Daisie until she can fly to Australia.

Unfortunately, the same airline that took her to Miami will not take her on to Maryland until we get a larger crate for her, thus delaying her arrival in Maryland even further. The pet company in Miami will help us with the purchase of the new crate and get her back to the airport tomorrow, Monday. No time now for second-thinking anything, we just want her safely transported to the Weavers who know her and will care for her.