Category Archives: Dolphins

Bahamas, Conception Island, Dolphins, Exumas, George Town

Still Better In The Bahamas

June 21, 2001 David Leave a comment

Well, the clock is ticking down on our going-on-three-year Caribbean adventure. I figure we’ll be stateside come Tuesday at Fort Myers Beach, Florida, but in the meantime, the Bahamas is sure a great place to wind it up! We arrived at Hawksbill Cay in the Exumas a couple of hours ago after a motor-sail from Big Majors Spot near Staniel Cay this morning. The beauty of all the very clear and multi-colored water here is still the best we’ve experienced anywhere in our travels.

After leaving San Salvador at the end of May we spent a couple of nights at Rum Cay before heading over to Conception Island which is just as great a place as we remembered. While there we transplanted our palm tree in a spot that is visible from the anchorage. We hope to watch it grow as we revisit this place as often as we can. But with company coming we headed on to George Town and awaited the arrival of our daughter, Christina, her husband Rick and two very special grandkids, Justin and Kristina. A very few minutes after their boarding, the kids and their Papa (that’s me) were swimming off the side of the boat, which immediately became a daily must-do. If those kids had half as much fun as we did during their visit then they had a BLAST! We swam and snorkeled and hiked and dinghied around and played at the beach and even got to swim with a dolphin who decided to spend the afternoon swimming around the anchorage.

We made the all day sail back over to Conception Island, which pushed the endurance limits of the land-lubber crew but they all decided it was very much worthwhile after the first half day there. The snorkeling here is some of the best we’ve seen and the kids really enjoyed seeing so many of the fish that we had shown them in our fish-ID book. More time was spent swimming off the side of the boat with Papa and at the beach and hiking around. On day two, Christina decided to stay at the beach while the rest of us took a long dinghy ride over to and up the “creek” that is accessible only at high tide. We saw lots of turtles, starfish and barracuda in the crystal clear water of the creek. When we finally got to the very shallow headwaters we saw something splashing around ahead. Was it a couple of giant turtles or what? Wait a minute! It’s a SHARK! COOL!! We dinghied over and identified it as a nurse shark, at least 6 feet long in about 2 feet of water. We followed it around trying to get close enough to pet it but it kept swimming off. The kids thought that was pretty neat and we couldn’t wait to get back to the beach and tell Christina what she missed! However, when we returned Christina’s eyes were big as saucers and she excitedly told us about the sea monster she’d just seen swim up to her as she sat in the water near shore. From her description it sure sounded like a big shark! Can’t wait to see the pictures she took. For some reason none of them wanted to go snorkeling again, but strangely, the kids still wanted to swim off the side of the boat with Papa. We broke the return trip to George Town in half by overnighting in Calabash Bay at Long Island where there was more fun at the beach and swimming off the side of the boat with Papa and Mema.

After our return to George Town we still had two more days of fun before they flew home to their normal lives. We’ll be sure to rest up for the next batch, as we’ve got nine more grandkids to share this fun with. Y’all better hurry before we get too old!

Our current plan is to sail to Allan’s Cays tomorrow (20 miles) then on to Nassau which will be our last stop before Fort Myers (unless we change our plans, of course!)

See you in the USA!!

David and Claudia
6/21/2001

Dolphins, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

Caribbean Update From Ma’alahi

February 10, 2001 David Leave a comment

Hello everyone out there in email land!

David and Claudia are finally back online with a new email address: KD5MXA@winlink.org. This email address is a permanent replacement for the old SAILMAIL address. Like the old email account, this one is via the HAM radio and it makes use of the identical technology and software. So, it’s the same SLOW send and receive for us on this end, although we do have more stations and frequencies available to log on to. There is a real neat feature of this new setup. On the web, go to http://wl2k.org/arps.htm and enter KD5MXA in the call sign prompt and click “display”. This will take you to a series of maps that show our last reported position which gets updated each time we logon to email.

We really love it here in the Virgin Islands. Even though we’ll be heading to Florida in the coming months to setup a new home base, visit family and friends and go to W*RK for awhile, we think this would make an excellent home base, too, someday. We already know that when hurricane season arrives, we can be south to Venezuela’s out islands in 3 days and that is a perfect place to cruise during that time of year, and then return here at whatever pace that suits us. We sailed down to St. Croix around the middle of January (35 miles south of St. Thomas) in order to take the HAM tests, the passing of which has given us these new email privileges. On this trip we finally made it over to Buck Island, a small island-national park less than 5 miles from Christiansted harbor. What a great discovery this was! The west end of the island has a beautiful white sand beach lined with palm trees and the anchorage is in deep sand in about 10 feet of water just off this beach. There are fabulous coral reefs around the island that made for excellent snorkeling. When we go back we hope to lure some of those big lobsters outside of the park boundary and have them over for dinner. On the sail back to St. Thomas we had yet another encounter with a group of dolphins playing at the bow of our boat. It was especially fun to watch the m in the incredibly blue and clear water competing for position directly in front of the bow.

We’ve made extensive use of 1-800 numbers and the U.S. mail in St. Thomas; ordering new parts, returning broken ones for repair and getting them back in a reasonable period of time. We’ve been without the use of either of our depth sounders since the first day of October when our backup unit decided to take early retirement. Although we got real good at judging depth from the color of the water, it is very good indeed to have both of them repaired and back onboard again. The forward seal on our transmission took to leaking awhile back and we’re going to have that fixed next week. Since the parts are on order for that and will take a week or so to arrive, we sailed over to St. John to spend some good NO-SHOPPING time at some of our favorite anchorages. We’ll head back to St. Thomas early next week to make the transmission repair.

Well, that’s the news from the Virgin Islands. It’s good to be back online and will be even better when we hear from you!

David and Claudia
aboard Ma’alahi
Leinster Bay, St. John, USVI
February 10, 2001

Cubagua, Dolphins, Isla Margarita, Los Testigos, Venezuela

Goodbye, Venezuela

November 17, 2000 David Leave a comment

I just re-read the last letter we sent out and realize that I’ve left you all hanging, with great anticipation I’m sure, regarding our attempts to secure diesel fuel for our continued windward passage through the Venezuelan islands. Well, be assured that we did indeed procure 50 gallons from the supply boat “Luciano” the very next day and were able to fill one of our two thirsty fuel tanks.

We left Gran Roque immediately but spent another three nights in a couple of beautiful and secluded anchorages before deciding it was time to make our way to Isla de Margarita, via Isla Tortuga. The deciding factor was being very low on provisions (we learned a long time ago to appreciate, but not depend on, the bounty of the sea) and, even more scary, being critically low on beer. It was an overnight sail to Tortuga, arriving the next morning. After six weeks in the beautiful Aves and Roques, Tortuga doesn’t have much to offer (however, for those traveling east to west, coming from Trinidad and Margarita, I’m sure it looks like paradise).

We spent a restful night at Cayo Herradura and the next morning traveled along the north coast to the eastern end of Tortuga at Playa Caldera. We found the huge crescent beach as lovely as advertised but the anchorage was crowded and rolley. After listening to the weather that afternoon and hearing that these relatively calm conditions would soon disappear we decided that we would rather handle another overnight passage than be stuck here for several days. It was just getting dark as we pulled up the anchor and headed back out to sea. As most of our destinations since leaving Curacao have been directly upwind, and especially since running low of fuel, we have gotten quite used to making long tacks and actually sailing the required zig-zag course to our goal. This night was no exception and we actually had a fast and gentle sail all night long. However, when the sun came up the wind died down and we motored the remaining 30 miles to the small island of Cubagua on an increasingly flat sea.

About 14 miles out we were visted by old friends that we hadn’t seen for a long time, a large group of dolphins. They swam with our boat and played at our bow for quite awhile and we watched them in the bluest and clearest water we’d ever seen any of them in. A few miles later, as we neared Margarita, we must have crossed some line and the clear blue water became murky, semi-clear, more-green-than-blue water. We’d seen Venezuela’s best and for us it was over (for now) but our dwindling supplies carried us on. We overnighted at Cubagua, a tiny sister-island just off Margarita’s south coast, and next day sailed another upwind, zig-zag course to Porlamar, Margarita’s largest and busiest town.

We were pleased to find our Texas friends, Bob and Susan from “Sunrise”, who we hadn’t seen since leaving Martinique in the spring. They’d been in Margarita for about two months and were ready to leave for points west and south but we had their company for a couple of days and got to take advantage of their local knowledge. Porlamar is certainly a different and interesting place. It is a duty-free zone and the most popular holiday destination for Venezuelans which accounts for the many high-rise condos and the many opportunities for all kinds of shopping, which is a definite plus when one’s stores are as low as ours had become. Eating out has seldom been more enjoyable and inexpensive (the latter foretells the former when on a cruising budget!), especially the local dishes of fish, plantains, arepas, empanadas, etc. One of our favorite spots was the 4D Heladera Italiano. I’m not sure the significance of “Italiano” but the helados (ice cream) is muy bueno! The grocery stores here are among the largest and best stocked we’ve seen anywhere, including the U.S.

Our friends, Al and Runa from “Runal”, are back in Trinidad and had been planning on meeting us here in Margarita and we’d then go explore the mainland’s Golfo de Cariaco before we both headed north back to the Virgin Islands, Bahamas and then Florida. But, Al got word from his son that he and his wife will be flying to the Virgins in mid-December for a visit so that schedule has changed our plans. We left Margarita Thursday morning (yesterday) and made it to Los Testigos last night. We plan to leave here in the morning for the 120 airline-mile (it will be more like 180 zig-zag miles) trip to Union Island in the Grenadines. “Runal” plans to leave Trinidad in the morning for the same destination, so we’re looking forward to getting back together with them while we make our way slowly back to the U.S.

David and Claudia
aboard “Ma’alahi”
November 17, 2000

Dolphins, Scotland Bay, Trinidad

Leaving Trinidad

March 19, 2000 David Leave a comment

I’ve waited to write again until our plans became a little more solid and now they are. It is Saturday evening and we are anchored at Chacachacare with “Runal”. There may be a weather window opening up Monday – Wednesday and we are planning to clear out of Trinidad on Monday and then move around to Scotland Bay before heading north, past Grenada and up to either Union Island or Bequia in the Grenadines. Our primary goal at this point is to take the quickest route back to pretty water and good snorkeling which will be found in and around the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines. There are many small islands that make up this area and we only stopped at a few on the way down and that was way back in July (it seems like a century ago). We’ll hang out in that area for awhile before continuing up island. “Ma’alahi” wants to be back in the Virgin Islands around the first of May and “Runal” needs to be back in Trinidad by mid-June so we’ve got several weeks to add detail to our plans. One reoccurring thought that we’re having is to go as far north as Martinique, which isn’t very far north, load up on good, cheap French wine (again), sail straight to the VI, spend 3 or 4 months there and then sail straight down to Venezuela for the hurricane season. Oh well, I shouldn’t spend too much time talking about future plans because they are so subject to change … over and over again.

We’ve spent the past several weeks doing a lot of boat work. We’ve been repainting the cove stripe on those very few days when weather conditions allow. We got 2 coats of gray primer on and then started with the dark blue polyurethane paint. It is generally too windy or rainy or both so progress has been slow. As we sit here now, the port side of the boat is dark blue and the starboard side is primer gray. Actually the gray side doesn’t look so bad and we’re getting a lot of interesting looks and comments from people when the boats swing around. I like to tell them that we just couldn’t make up our minds which color to use or that I wanted blue and my wife wanted gray. At least it is progress. The new Icom SSB radio is installed and is incredibly superior to our old SGC. There is a net we check into most evenings and it is getting a little embarrassing because our signal is so strong and so many people want to talk to us (actually I still enjoy hearing them comment that “it sounds like you’re right next to us”). But the neatest part of this new radio is that it handles our email so much better. I can get connected virtually any time, night or day and have it all sent and received in 4 or 5 minutes. So, please feel free to write longer and more often!

You may remember about the fuel line problems we had back in Texas and Louisiana when we first took off. A very small air leak allowed air bubbles to reach the injectors every few hours and kill the engine. We solved the problem by installing an electric fuel pump and never had the problem again … until a couple of weeks ago that is. The electric pump quit pumping and we discovered that our air leak had not healed itself. I ordered and had FedEx’d a new pump from the U.S. and began trying in earnest to track down and repair that leak. I started by installing a new manual lift pump that I had on board. That didn’t solve it so now I’ve replaced all the fittings and fuel hose from the tanks to the lift pump. That didn’t solve it either but I’ve got the new electric pump installed and we’re back in business. I think I’ll buy a spare electric pump when we get back to VI.

When “Runal” returned to their boat from Sweden they discovered that they had real engine problems. They had to have their engine pulled and get new rings and bearings. One day, while that was going on, we bicycled over to a beach on the north coast and had a picnic. While biking along the road we saw a couple of monkeys swinging through the bamboo trees which was a treat since the monkeys here are often heard but seldom seen. On the way back we took a side trip to a trail that we heard about and had a beautiful hike up to a waterfall. Actually, it is only a trickle in the dry season. When “Runal” got back in the water we motored around to Scotland Bay with them for a shakedown. All seemed well until the next morning when they discovered a quart of oil in the bilge and their low oil pressure warning would not shut off. We towed them around to Chaguaramas and a few days later they were re-repaired and all is now well.

I mentioned to someone the other day how Trinidad is starting to seem like a third world Kemah. It’s been fun here but now all we’re doing is working on the boat and spending money; just like before we left home. We’re definitely ready to go cruising again!

SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2000

It is now Sunday morning and I’m finishing up this email before sending it on out. We had another dolphin encounter this morning, only this time before we jumped in the dinghy to go play with them I grabbed my snorkeling bag. Just like last time they came over to swim at the bow of the dinghy, only this time I was in the water, too, holding on and watching them watch me … a really incredible experience. After awhile I got out and let Claudia have a turn. Some people pay big bucks to get to do this. I guess we did, too, only indirectly. After an hour or so we got tired and dinghied back to our boat but the dolphins weren’t through playing yet. They followed us over there and started splashing around. It now feels like we’re cruising again!

Well, that’s all for now. We’ll write again when we get somewhere.

David and Claudia

Chacachacare, Dolphins, Scotland Bay, Trinidad

Still in Trinidad

January 6, 2000 David Leave a comment

CHACACHACARE (cha-ka-cha-CAR-ray)
We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are off to an exciting and successful New Year. I’m sure that back home every small and insignificant computer glitch is causing front page news (since apparently the world has not come to an end due to Y2K problems) but here we haven’t heard any of that. We had a nice Christmas dinner with a large number of other cruisers, potluck style. We were still anchored at Scotland Bay but dinghyed around to Chaguaramas for the event. It was just getting dark on the way back and as we were entering the bay a very large dolphin leaped straight and completely out of the water directly in front of us; scared the heck out of us at first but I turned the dinghy around for another look and he did it again. We both thought that was a pretty neat Christmas present. The next day we moved the boat over to Chacachacare Island, about 6 miles away. Chacachacare was a leper colony until the late 60’s when it was vacated. The ruins of the buildings (the hospital, chapel, doctor’s house, nuns’ quarters, etc.) make excellent exploring. The lab in the hospital still contains patients’ records, x-rays and boxes of medicines; very fascinating. We also hiked up the mountain top to the lighthouse where on a clear day the views must be wonderful.

NEW YEAR’S EVE (or OLD YEAR’S NIGHT)
After a couple of nights at Chacachacare we headed back to Chaguaramas to check on dock space at the yard where our new galley floor will be made and installed next week, get some supplies and make some phone calls. We had planned to go back to Scotland Bay for New Year’s but instead went back to Chacachacare with some other cruising friends. There were other friends over there for the new year and before dark we all got together for a dinghy raft-up with a few snacks and drinks. We had dinner aboard Rob and Debbie’s catamaran “CAVU” along with Paul and Natalie from “Renegade” and Earl and Sue from “My Bonnie”. After dinner we awaited the new year by playing a game of “Farkle” (where I got the nickname “Monkey Man” just because I picked up a dropped dice with my toes (that’s another benefit of this cruising life, you might get dressed up for an evening on someone’s boat, but you still go barefoot!)) and then laying on their foredeck (trampoline) looking up at a most awesome array of stars on an unusually clear night…a very memorable new year.

ANOTHER DOLPHIN ENCOUNTER
We were having coffee in the cockpit the morning of Jan. 2, when Debbie paddled over on a float. When Claudia turned around to greet her, she noticed a pod of dolphins were feeding in the bay. Debbie paddled out toward them, but we jumped in our dinghy and after going over to “CAVU” and picking up Rob we took off to get up close which we did. These were the largest dolphins I’ve ever seen and being in the dinghy we were right next to them on the water. Some of them swam right with the dinghy, just like they do with the big boat. I’d speed up and so would they and they’d slow down when I did. We only turned around to go back after they finished their fish breakfast and left the protection of the bay, and after one of them flipped his tail right in front of us and gave us a good soaking. We all thought that was pretty neat, except for Miss Augie.

CAR RENTAL
We came back to Chaguaramas the next afternoon. “CAVU” and us decided to rent a car for a couple of days to see more of Trinidad and we had committed to pick up Doug and LuAnn from “Whisper” at the airport the night of the Jan. 4 upon their return from South Carolina for the holidays. I have driven on the left before (in the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands) but never with the steering wheel on the right. It didn’t take long to make the adjustment and after a couple of days, it seems natural and I actually prefer it. We explored the south of Trinidad and saw “Pitch Lake” where pitch is mined and exported for road pavement and we drove through the rain forest to the north coast and Maracas Beach where the island’s best “Bake ‘N Shark” can be had…and had some we did. Tomorrow we’ll make a grocery run with the car before turning it in. Then (MAYBE) we can finally get started on some of those boat projects, ha ha!

FUTURE PLANS
Nothing new to report here. We’re going to get that new galley floor done and then either go west to Venezuela, Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba before heading northeast back to the Virgins, or start working our way back north from Trinidad, or go west as far as Isla de Margarita (in Venezuela) then come back to Trinidad before working our way back north. Don’t know exactly how we’ll route it but we are planning to be back in the Virgin Islands this spring. We’ll let you know when we figure it out. Until then, enjoy yourselves and keep in touch. Please use our sailmail address, wcw5564@sailmail.com, unless your message is particularly long or includes attachments, then use the hotmail address, wcw5564@hotmail.com. Sailmail has finally opened their east coast station and it’s now much easier to get connected so I’m not checking hotmail as often now.
Till next time,