PHOTOS!

Thanks to my genius of a big brother, Jed, I was able to retrieve all of our photos from my poor old dead MAC. I've added a few to the end of the posts where they belong. Thanks for reading!

Guatemala

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Motoring up the Rio Dulce, or Sweet River was so different from everything we had experienced so far. The river winds narrowly to the SW and we were flanked on both sides by thick rainforest. Looking into the foliage we could see the colorful feathers of tropical birds and we could hear the calls of the Howler Monkeys. Wow.

The Rio Dulce has been a refuge for sailors for hundreds of years. It is a very unique place in the world in the simple fact that there are few roads, the main form of transportation is boat! We spent our time tied up at Mario's Marina. It is possible to anchor off the main town, but due to some security incidents we decided it was better to stay in one of the many marinas available there.

I was particularly thankful for the hot showers available at the marina because I managed to contract head lice! I managed to get rid of it quickly using horse shampoo. Seriously. We went to a vet supply (really a feed shop) and got horse shampoo for $7 when lice shampoo costs upwards of $25- and mine worked quicker! But enough about that.


No News and Moonshadow med-moored together at Mario's in the Rio Dulce

We caught up with Moonshadow, and Tiffany went 'home'- 35' is really small for 3 adults! We checked out our surroundings, the market in the little town was packed with fruit and veggies, something we hadn't seen a lot of in awhile. Two weeks there was enough for us, we were new to this cruising life and had very 'itchy feet!' We did, however, take one land trip during that time.

Antigua, Guatemala. A city rich in history, it was the third capital of Guatemala, serving as the military seat for 200 years during the 15th and 16th centuries. We missed the famed New Years festivities, but throughly enjoyed our (small)taste of the arcetecture and tradition still very much alive there.

Tiffany also accompanied us to Antigua, but treated herself to a 4-star hotel while we stayed in (private room) hostels! This is also the city where Jeff and I adopted out kitten, Maya, who was to be our companion on No News for the next few months. Jeff and I braved the bus system for our trip back to the Rio. We had to change busses in Guatemala City, not one of the safest places in Centeral America! The 3 of us (Maya included) made it home unscathed and within 2 days we were loaded up and headed back out to the salt water. We were limited by the moon cycle for the highest tide, so if we didn't leave when we did we might have been 'stuck' there for another 2 weeks.

Our next adventure was a tipping point in our cruising life... stay tuned!

Christmas and a Sand Bar

View Larger MapWe parted ways with Moonshadow after Belize City, with plans to meet up again in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. It was important that we meet back up with them because we had Tiffany, their crew! When we parted ways, we were headed out to some of the outlying Cays (pronounced Keys) to do some extra snorkeling. Tiffany was pretty keen to get some more time in the water before heading up the murky river so we invited her along, it was only a week after all!
We'd never had crew before, and boy did we learn a lot- but I'll get into that later.
We did end up getting into a few good anchorages and got some snorkeling in. Belize is riddled with large Barracuda, so I didn't spend too much time in the water, but I was happy to man the dingy for Jeff and Tiffany! It was now December 23, anchored in a small lagoon with a small pass through the coral reef. Another boat (a Moorings charter boat) was anchored next to us. During the night the wind shifted and picked up, the charter boat dragged anchor and ended up leaving in the middle of the night. We were stuck because we couldn't make it over the submerged reef (the other boat was a catamaran) with our 2 meter draft. I remember that night to be one of the longest of our trip- Jeff and I took turns on 'anchor watch' all night, and first thing in the morning we were out of there!
Christmas Eve 2004 was a long day... Exhausted from a long night. I climbed up a few of the mast steps to help read the water depth from a higher vantage point. I put my foot on one of the winches on the mast the wrong way and it spun around.
I fell. Hard. within a few minutes I had a colorful bruise stretching from my ankle to my neck- OW! Luckily Tiffany was there with us, Jeff was working on getting us safely into deep water while I went immediately down below to cry. I didn't want Jeff to know how badly I was hurt until we were safely away from the coral! We made it out. I had ice (again, I had an amazing freezer that Jeff built from scratch!) on my wounds and Tiffany to fill in the gaps. She made us pancakes for breakfast (I can't believe I remember all of this so vividly!) and we headed towards the entrance to the Rio Dulce in Livingston, Guatemala.

The entrance to the Rio Dulce is guarded by a sandbar. A shallow sandbar. Remember, we draw 2 meters at this point, weighed down with all of our cruising gear. The bar is reportedly between 4 and 5 feet deep, but it shifts. There is a GPS way point and heading that, if followed exactly, will get larger boats over the bar. Also, the locals have a booming business pulling sailboats over the bar with large fishing boats. Being frugal cruisers, we did not want to pay someone to help us. Luckily as we were approaching Livingston the wind shifted and picked up. We were able to sheet the sails in hard and heel over at an amazing angle. Jeff kept the engine on full throttle and we sailed/pushed ourselves over the bar! It was thrilling, exhilarating, and empowering that we did it ourselves.

We anchored off Livingston that night. Jeff launched the Kayak and went ashore to officially check us into Guatemala, and he came back with lettuce and fruit, what a Christmas present! We put our twinkle lights out in the cockpit that night, I made a Christmas meatloaf in my pressure cooker, and we had many celebratory drinks. I don't remember what gifts we exchanged that night, I think a seashell was involved, maybe a treasured CD passed forward. Truly a great night after a long few days.






Captain Jeff, in total concentration steering over the 'bar'


Yes folks, this is what you call 'heeling'!

Adventures in Belize

View Larger MapIn our final Mexican anchorage, Xcalak, we made our first 'real' cruising friends, a family on a 50' boat named Moonshadow (more on them later). Howard and Sheira, their daughters Rachael and Jocelyn, and crew Tiffany. We were going the same basic direction, Howard is from New Zealand (a Kiwi) and they were making their way there to live. We didn't realize it at the time but I had actually met them on our shakedown cruise in the Bahamas 2 years prior! We ended up cruising the coast of Belize with them, sharing laughs, meals and a lot of rum!


(Rachael and Abby)
Belize has the longest coral reef in the Western Hemisphere, the second largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We chose to sail inside the reef along the coast, which was a little dicey at times with a 2-meter (6'8") draft! There is another gem in Belize, aside from the great diving and snorkeling that can be done here, the Belize Zoo.

Anchoring off of Belize City is an adventure in itself, but we added to it by taking public bus, also known as the 'chicken bus' (an old US school bus, painted fun colors commonly used throughout Central America) out to where the zoo was, which ended up being more of an adventure than we bargained for!

The bus broke down.
In the 90 degree heat.
With NO shade.
We waited about 45 minutes for another bus to come rescue us, and then we finally made it to the zoo. We hadn't really planned on actually visiting the zoo that particular day. We went to the bus station with our friends from Moonshadow to check out the prices and ended up on the bus, ready to go! Well, we arrived at our destination and the price had gone up. None of us had enough cash to get in, and they would not give us any leeway. What to do? After such an interesting afternoon on the (broken down) bus we really wanted to actually see the zoo! Well, we hemmed and hawed for a long time, and finally the person behind the desk (who had been so unbending before) felt guilty or something, and she let us all in! I highly recommend anyone going to Belize visit this little zoo, it is truly a magical place.













The other highlight of Belize was Sapodilla Lagoon. We went there because it is one of the most protected areas of Belize and we had heard that there was a large weather front heading out way. We were all snug in the lagoon, I wasn't feeling well so Jeff went out exploring in the dinghy, picking up the Moonshadow clan on the way. When they didn't come back for hours I started to get a little nervous, Tiffany was on board Moonshadow so at least we could chat via the VHF radio (both of the dingy's were gone so we were stuck on our own boats). Finally Jeff arrived home and told me all about his adventure...



Motoring around in two dinghy's, they had found a large canal which was obviously man made. Curiosity took over and Jeff and Howard steered up, finding a guy in a pickup truck at the end. After a 3 hour tour of Herman Hanley's shrimp farm they 2 boats finally came home, with plans to go back the next day. Herman is a pretty interesting character, he described himself this way, through what his wife said about him in retirement "Most people retire and buy a Lazy Boy, you retire and start a shrimp farm in Belize".
All of us went back to Herman's Shrimp Farm the next day. He was headed into a little Mennonite (yes, Mennonite) town about an hours drive from the farm to pick up some supplies. We were all excited for a little road trip to see more of the country side! Driving along the rolling hills, as far as we could see were pineapples. Herman stopped at a little roadside stand where a man with a very large machete hacked off the bottom and prickly skin of the pineapple- leaving the leaves (stem?) as a handle- we had pineapple Popsicles! They were so juicy that we all had pineapple down our chins, I have never, ever, ever tasted a pineapple so amazing. Pretty amazing snack for 50 Cents!





Arriving back at Herman's farm, we were treated to a grand tour of the gardens, the house (where I got to take a shower!!!) and finally the shrimp pools. Jeff can write someday about the technology Herman was using to grow shrimp there, it was pretty amazing. While at the house Jeff had inquired about buying a small box of frozen shrimp, but Herman couldn't "sell" us any due to local laws. So he did one better... He took us out to one of the pools where the shrimp were big enough to be harvested (a few weeks early, but still big enough) and he got one of his guys to cast his net. We ended up with a 48 Quart cooler FULL of whole shrimp!

Probably the best, and worst part of the shrimp was sitting on Moonshadow, surrounded by friends, working on shrimp. I'm not sure how long we were there, but hours were spent de-heading and peeling shrimp. Moonshadow had no refrigeration at the time so they ate their fill that first night (we all did, even Amos the cat!). We thought that cooler would never be empty! Eventually is was though, and there were a lot of shrimp still to be eaten. So Jeff and I went home to No News, pulled out our vacuum sealer and packed 12-15 shrimp per bag to be frozen. Yes. I had a freezer! Let me tell you the best part, we ate the final installment of shrimp- grilled and over pasta- 9 months later in Tonga!




Shrimp.
One of my favorite stories to tell from our adventure. Unfortunately that part of Belize has been developed in the last few years. I was unable to find out any information about Hanley Farms Limited on Google. Maybe someday we will show up there again and check it out, maybe not. Sometimes it is better to remember the great times, not try to replace them.

Setting Sail- Mexico

November 2004 was an adventure. We set sail from Fort Lauderdale on a sunny day, a day later than we had *planned.* One of the first things we learned about cruising is that plans are always subject to change, mostly due to the weather.

We sailed down the Florida Keys, stopping each night- we're cruisers now and in no particular hurry! Jeff's parents met us in Key West and treated us to a few days RnR, taking showers in their hotel room and dinners out. When we were ready to go we pulled up our anchor and went into the marina to fill our water tanks one last time. Little did we know that this would be the worst water we'd have for the next 2 years, thanks Key West!

Jeff with our MUMM Champagne, left over from our wedding! We toasted our first anchorage after setting sail, and saved one bottle for our first anniversary.

Our first stop was Isla Mujeres, Mexico which is an island just off of the Yucatan Peninsula across from Cancun.

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Before we left the US, I had gone to Costco and provisioned the boat like a madwoman. I borrowed a friend's freezer and I spent a whole day cutting, seasoning and vacuum sealing a lot of meat. When we arrived in Mexico we *almost* lost all of our meat due to quarantine regulations! Luckily we somehow managed to talk the officials into keeping it, and now we know. If we had it to do all over again we'd provision in Cancun- there is a well stocked WalMart!

My Galley, where the magic happens!

We spent a few weeks sailing the coast of Mexico, experiencing unmarked reef passes, high fees and corruption of officials. We also experienced Mayan ruins, the best Cevieche we've ever tasted, and cheap beer. You take the good with the bad!



Jeff and I in Tulum, Mexico

Catch Up

During 2001-2004 Jeff and I bought a house in Fort Lauderdale (a great place to outfit a cruising boat!) on a canal where we could tie the boat up. With the amount of re-fit work we did on No News, it was an ideal situation. Our 'shakedown' cruise was in July of 2002 to the Bahamas.


We arrived home in August with a full notebook page of things to do before we set off permanently. Jeff is amazing with tools, a sewing machine, and basically everything marine, and he managed to make our boat a home.

In March of 2004 Jeff and I tied the knot.

On the Schooner America, in Key West. Fitting, no?

On July 1, 2004 we moved aboard our 35' Wauquiez Pretorien, No News. We sold and gave away all of our possessions which was incredibly liberating, I cried when one lady bought all of my shoes, but I truly felt lighter afterwards.

(Cute huh? We're having cocktail hour on our front lawn because we had no furniture inside the house!)

In November when hurricane season was over (and we voted in Broward County, Florida) we set sail. The PLAN was to sail to New Zealand and apply for residency. We truly were not thrilled with they way the political situation in the US was headed and felt that residency in a neutral country couldn't hurt....

In the beginning....

I guess to catch you all up, I'll have to start at the very beginning.


(Yes, this is Jeff circa 1999, shortly after we met!)

Jeff and I met in Harbor Springs at the LTYC Regatta way back in 1999, I was at the tender age of 20! We both have slightly different stories of what exactly happened that weekend, but we both distinctly remember sitting outside Irish's by the pay phone. We were chatting (Jeff's attempt at flirting?) and I was trying to act 'cool'. I remember saying that I was going to sail around the world someday (I think I was reading 'Maiden Voyage' by Tania Aebi for the 3rd or 4th time) Jeff said "me too, I just haven't found the interested party yet" I raised my hand and said 'here I am'....

The next full year was filled with road trips, me helping him with his business in Chicago and various other places, and the quest for 'the boat'. We also did quite a bit of practice cruising around the Florida Keys on Jeff's Dad's Compac 19, now thats close quarters!

Finding the right boat for distance cruising is a bit like finding the perfect mate. Its a long journey filled with a lot of duds, but when you find it you know... (funny I should say that, Jeff and I are on our second perfect boat now! but that's another story for another post).

Jeff and I drove to Nova Scotia to look at a boat. We flew to California. We looked at, picked apart, and denied boats all over the US and Canada on the Internet. And finally in September of 2001 we found a 35' Wauquiez Pretorien for sale in Hollywood, FL. Jeff had spent a fair amount of time on a 33' Wauquiez Gladiator in his youth sailing with family friends, so he knew the construction, seaworthiness and sail performance fairly well. Another positive for the Pretorien, Hal Roth who was one of the world's leading authorities on sailing and adventure writing, owned one as his final yacht! You don't get much better than that.


So now its 2001, we own 'the boat'... whats next?