Provo III

These are our new friends Bill and Dorothy, and their Alden 40 "Rumrunner". Rumrunner won the Boat of the Year at the 2006 Annapolis Boat Show. Dorothy is holding up the cover of the magazine which announces this achievement. They are quite proud. They should be, she is a stunning vessel. Bill's "dream boat". As I type this, John and Jordi are out snorkeling on the "tender" rafted up alongside, as seen in the photo. I was gonna go, but I just had to come do a post for y'all. Who loves ya, huh?:

Check out this fishy I caught. I had him almost into the boat, then he snapped my 20lb test. I should have used 40lb test. I had to jump into the water and wrestle him into the boat by hand. He kept poking me with his pointy thing. Don't worry, I'm OK:

SOLIDARITY: My dear friend Vivian back home is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments. She went and got a pre-emptive short haircut at a fancy NYC salon before she started. My long 'fro.... "It's too mach, it's TOO MAACH!". So this cut is for you, Viv. I went as short as I could go and still actually have hair:

Here's the view from the cockpit of S/V Audax where she is anchored just outside the entrance to Turtle Cove Marina, Providenciales, Turks/Caicos. The beach is the Eastern end of a seven or so mile long beach spanning all the big resorts:

Boat work day. I signed up for cleaning and oiling the teak rail. She's so dry and weathered that she could easily soak up two more coats of oil..... no worries, it was kinda fun. I suppose I can do it again. Then again. I needed some sun on my back, anyway..... and a good excuse to rock out to some METAL on the ipod. I ALMOST forgot how much I love to crank metal. Almost. Sorry, Mom.

"Doing" Provo...

Let's examine the above photo, shall we?

* The weather is not so good today. I'm wet.

* I have my running shoes on because I've been walking all around provo today on a quest for an ATM, lunch, and Wi-Fi.

* I'm wearing my glasses cuz I seem to be having contact lens drama down here... the wind, sand, salt combo, I guess?

* I have my Ocean Planet shirt on to represent: I was talking with an Aussie girl last night whos face lit up when I told her I was good friends with Bruce Schwab. See, Haji? You still have "star power"! She knew all about OP, Vendee, 5-oceans etc etc....

* I have my backpack with my laptop in it, trying very hard to keep it dry. This required running at times.

So..... we did the town with some locals last night. The Shark Bite for happy hour, then a full moon party on the beach at Horse Eyed Jack's, then over to Danny Bouy's for latenight. Good times. Gotta hurry up and post this before my computer battery dies.... having fun! Good adventure day today with bonus excercise... Bye for now!!

Provo!

We're in Provo! No, not Provo, Utah. Providenciales, Turks/Caicos. Nothing to report, no pics yet. Just letting y'all know where I'm at. We got in last night, after erroneously circumnavigating the island, went provisioning this morning, now we're gonna go goof off so we have some pics and stories for blog content.

"Ya, man. No problem."

"Riding a front"

So, we "rode a front" from Rum Cay to Mayaguana. Let me explain. Attempting to cruise a course to the SouthEast as we are, is a challenge in a sailboat, due to the facts that the the prevailing tradewinds are almost always out of the SoutEast and a sailboat cannot sail directly into the wind. As a matter of fact, this route is referred to in the cruising community as "The Thorny Path". Therefore, whenever the winds clock around to Easterly, or East by NorthEast, or maybe even true NorthEast, these are good times to "make tracks". Unfortunately, when the winds come around to the East or NorthEast, this is usually related to a low pressure system moving across somewhere nearby. Low pressure = bad weather = foul conditions = not fun sailing. So, as you may have read, we decided to ride the East by NorthEast winds generated by a front as it passed by to the North of us. We left Rum Cay at halftime if the AFC Championship game, and set sail for Mayaguana, 120NM to the SouthEast of us. We ate Jordi's birthday cake, which John had baked for him, as we left. Sunday was Jordi's birthday.

The night went OK, but Monday the shit kinda hit the fan. The winds clocked around to East by NorthEast just as we suspected it would, and the seas built to about 8-10ft. The winds also built to about 20-25kts. It also got really squally. Squalls are little mini storms with big gusty winds, and downpours. The biggest squall hit during my watch, and I rode it at the helm, as Jordi and John went below to "batten down the hatches". (a phrase so often used metaphorically, but this time literally!) During the peak of these squalls, the winds gusted to 30kts+, the rains poured down, and the seas built to breaking whitecapped waves. Occaisionally, a wave would break over the bow, over the beam, or sometimes into the cockpit. When a wave broke over the bow or beam, water would drip rather heavily into the cabin, as the hatch seals on the mighty Audax are dried out and they leak. This soaked much of the interior... books, V-berth cusions, the sole (making it slippery as hell), and even an AC outlet in the galley which snap crackle popped, smoked and sparked as it shorted out. When a wave broke into the cockpit, it SOAKED the helmsman. Yes, that's me. I don't care how good your foulies are - and mine are good ones - when a wave breaks into the cockpit, YOU ARE WET. It was pretty gnarly. We were all tired, both metally and physically.

We were discussing today how in in overnight shitstorms it's like a fatigue double-whammy: Not only do the rough conditions make it difficult to sleep during your "off" shift, but when you're "on", moving around a soaking wet rockin' and rollin' boat heeled over is a physically strenuous CHORE. Double whammy. When we arrived 24 hours later at Mayaguana, we were SPENT. We dropped hook, reassembled / towel dried the interior, I cleaned up a peepee mishap I had in the forward head (more details in a later post), and finally sat down to take a breath and chill out. I cooked dinner, only because it was my turn. Over dinner we discussed it all.... we all knew what we were getting into when we left, but we also agreed that we had found our team threshhold of gnarliness with respect to "riding fronts". Meaning that we do not desire to cross this threshhold into an even gnarlier passage at any point in the future. It won't hurt my feelings if we don't even approach this threshhold at any point in the future. It was not enjoyable.

Please note: At no point did we feel unsafe. Audax handled the conditions just fine, hatch leaks notwithstanding. We never felt as if we were ever in danger. It just was not very fun. Not worth doing again. This is how we learn.... by DOING.

Been kickin' it at Mayaguana for the past couple days, waiting patiently for the seas to settle down so we can have a nice, pleasant sail to Provinciales, Turks/Caicos. Looks like we might leave tonight.....

Course Update

We are currently at Rum Cay. (not really noteworthy) It's halftime of the Pats' AFC Chamionship game. We are preparing to "ride a front" through the night tonight, to one of three possible destinations: Plana Cay, Samana Cay, or Mayaguana, depending on what happens when the front hits during the night. It could be a few days until the next WiFi, so please be patient. After Mayaguana, it's Turks/Caicos....and civilization.... which we are all really looking forward to. Don't forget to keep checking www.caribbeanendeavour.com for what is usually a more detailed description of our whereabouts etc. He usually posts way more pics, too. But he dares not write about poopyjuice.

Conception Island

Conception Island was...... VERY COOL. This place deserves its own dedicated post. The most beautiful beach I've ever been to, great snorkeling, and we had the whole place to ourselves! Very cool.

A Day in the Life

Here is a typical day on S/V Audax in the Bahamas:

6:00am: Wake up at Island A

6:30am - 7:00am: Fire up SSB (Single Side Band radio) to listen to Chris Parker's Bahamas weather forecast while eating breakfast

7:00am - 7:30am: Get NOAA weather faxes from SSB to laptop

8:00am - 9:00am: Weigh anchor and set sail for Island B

9:00am - 1:00pm: Enjoy sunny breezy sail to Island B in 15-25 feet of crystal clear light-turquoise colored water

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Arrive at island B, drop the anchor, and have lunch

2:00pm - 5:00pm: Dingy ashore and explore island. Usually some remote, desolate beautiful island with a gorgeous white sand beach and nobody else around. Great for swimming, tanning, meditating etc.

5:00pm - 6:00pm: Cocktail Hour aboard S/V Audax. Drinks and crackers and cheese in the cockpit. Watch sun set.

6:00pm - 7:00pm: Cook dinner, eat dinner

7:00pm - 8:00pm: After dinner activities. These typically include reading, downloading/editing the day's digital photos, plotting GPS courses, reviewing cruising guides/charts, or watching movies on laptop

8:00pm - 10:00pm: Bed time, Possibly more reading in bed

REPEAT AS NECESSARY UNLESS/UNTIL ANY OF THE FOLLOWING OCCUR:
* Bad weather forces you to stay put.
* A "city" is reached with a grocery store, fueling station, showers, WiFi etc
* A fun, social place is found where we decide we'd like to hang out for a while
* Female intrusion

Bahamas Medley

I slept up on deck one night last week, now everyone wants to do it:

Bahamian Zoo (please do not feed the whales):

Bahamian Wi-Fi hotspot. If the PitBulls are in their cages, just knock on the window. If the guy is home, slip him $5, and he'll slip you a card back through the window that has the passwords for his Wi-Fi. It was actually a decent connection... good enough for Jordi and I to make a few Skype calls from the boat:

Bahamian Super WalMart:

Bahamian Starbucks:

Another grueling day:

It rained on us from Georgetown to Red Shanks:

Jean-Paul!!:

Don't mess with "grill bitch":

"Mind if I chill out here while you weave your baskets?":

I had these birds eating out of my hand (literally):

Poopyjuice II: The Sequel

WARNING: IF YOU ARE EASILY GROSSED OUT, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. READING THIS ENTRY MAY ACTUALLY INDUCE VOMITING, OR AT LEAST SEVERE NAUSEA. DO NOT READ WHILE EATING OR DRINKING.

So we are in Georgetown, Great Exuma. This is the town with the marina which supposedly possesses blackwater holding tank pumpout capabilities. (if you have not read the original "poopyjuice" entry, please go back and read it now) Today was the day we were to take Audax in for her much anticipated poopyjuice pumpout. I skyped them this morning to confirm. Their response was not encouraging: ".. it will cost you $50, ya know... we may not get to it today, we're really busy...." I could sense his reluctance and attempts to discourage us. Apparently, he did not want to deal with poopyjuice any more than we did. I can't say that I blame him. So we steamed off for Georgetown Marina to see him. As we steamed in close to the marina, we figured we'd better hail him on the radio to confirm our intentions. Their response:...."it's too shallow for you to get in here with your draft, and our pump is broken anyway..". SHIT. Obviously, their reluctance to pump our poopyjuice had prevailed, and they just fed us bullshit so they didn't have to deal with it. SHIT. A sad silence fell over the members of Team Audax. I was frustrated. I, more than Jordi or John, was SERIOUSLY PEEVED at the prospect of living with poopyjuice vapors for an indefinite amount of time. I erupted. I began to yell... "When we drop anchor, I am making it my personal mission to figure out how to empty that holding tank out!! There has to be a way to do it!! I'm going to do it... I'm willing to do whatever it takes!!" etc etc, (expletives omitted)

We dropped anchor in the sheltered Red Shanks anchorage. (very breezy as a front is moving through today) John and Jordi went to work on changing the engine oil which was due. I cleared out the V-berth to gain access to the holding tank. I studied it. I focused on it. I thought and thought and focused some more. I had a plan: I would scab together whatever pieces of hose we had (for changing engine oil) and attempt to fabricate a hose which would hopefully be long enough to insert into the pumpout connection on the weather deck and reach down to the bottom of the holding tank, and then siphon out as much poopyjuice as we could. I had a plan; I went to work. I had to enlist the help of Jordi to manually hold together one of the hose connections which was not perfectly airtight, as I sucked on the other end of the hose to get a siphon going. (gross, huh?) I was ALMOST able to get a good siphon going, but not quite, and not for my lack of trying. It was very gross, as you can imagine. In the process of trying my damndest to suck enough through the hose to get a siphon going, you guessed it, I actually had a small amount of poopyjuice go INTO MY MOUTH. Yes, that's right folks, sucking a bit of poopyjuice into my mouth while trying to get the hose to siphon the tank out; you read that correctly. I immediately spit it out and declared "I'm done". Jordi watched, laughing out loud in utter astonishment. I didn't give up. I talked John into letting me use the telescopic engine oil discharge pump (instead of my mouth) to pump the tank out from the deck discharge. He reluctantly agreed, sensing my level of dedication to this task. All three of us went up on deck; two holding together makeshift hose connections, and one pumping the telescopic pump. Success. Poopyjuice flowed out of the pump discharge, into the ocean. (hey... it's legal here, remember?) Poopyjuice also flowed freely out of every non-tight makeshift connection in our jury-rigged suction hose, and through the fingers of anyone who happened to have their hands on it. It dripped liberally all over the boat and all over us.... but we didn't care, as long as it was flowing out of the pump discharge, and into the ocean. "Keep going, keep going, keep pumping... we're doing it!!" Believe it or not, we were excited at this point. But then we lost suction. On to the next phase of the mission.....

We had managed to suck out enough poopyjuice to get the level about 1/3rd of the way down the tank, which freed up two of the three tank connections to be undone. I then figured we could undo the larger of these two, and pump the rest out from that open tank connection, into a bucket which could then be dumped overboard. We knew, as a team, that once we undid that tank connection, the smell and mess would be unbelievably grotesque, and there would be no turning back. We agreed, as a team, that it was worth a shot. We methodically discussed and verbally practiced what each of our distinct roles would be once we pulled this tank connection apart. "Are you ready? Let's do it.... here we go."

The smell that filled the V-berth upon removing the larger hose from its tank connection defies words, so I will not even make an attempt. Suffice to say that we were all moaning and groaning and trying to contort ourselves to somehow direct our mouths toward the overhead hatch where fresh air was blowing in. We were all trying soooo hard not to vomit... no time for that. This surgical strike must not be foiled.... we must prevail. Jordi and I held hoses and connections in place as john pumped the poopyjuice into the bucket, and ran the buckets out to dump them overboard. SO GROSS..... so gross. After three or four bucket runs, we finally had the tank empty enough where we could undo all three connections and remove the tank. John and Jordi removed the tank and cleaned it out thoroughly while perched on the transom swim ladder. I cleaned up the crime scene inside to the best of my ability. we re-installed the clean empty tank, and now all is right with the world. We rejoiced. We laughed. We marveled at our determination, persistence, and seamless, flawless teamwork. Team Audax prevails over the poopyjuice. We were still discussing it in amazement over our spaghetti dinner this evening. As I type this, Jordi is retiring to the V-berth for a night of serene slumber, totally free of the poopyjuice vapors which plagued this same V-berth less that 12 hours ago.

NEW BOAT RULE: NO MORE USING THE FORWARD HOLDING TANK. PERIOD.
Let us all rejoice and be glad.

Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay was a VERY COOL place! Have you noticed that the phrase "very cool" is being used more and more as we make progress on our journey Southward? Well, I think I can honestly say that Staniel Cay was probably the best all-around stop on the journey so far. This is the spot where some of the aqua-adventure portions of the James Bond 007 movie "Thunderball" were filmed. There is an actual "Thunderball Cave (grotto)" pseudo-underwater cave which appears in the movie, and it is now an excellent snorkeling destination. The best snorkeling I have ever seen, personally. The pics don't really do it justice. Pics never do. So we arrived in Staniel Cay, then took the tender out to Thunderball Cave for the snorkeling. There were nurse sharks and manta rays swimming around right at the docks. Awesome. Dinner on the boat, then into Staniel Cay Yacht Club for the PATS game! This was a festive night.... a late night. Lots of socializing. In the morning, we slept in and then...... went to church!! A small local Baptist congregation had a great service at 11am Sunday morning. Lots of singing. Let us give thanks and praise, and REJOICE! There was much singing, praying and rejoicing. Right before I went into the service, I pet a local stray doggie laying in the shade outside. This doggie was not very clean, and my hand smelled like dirty dog as a result. I had to walk to the beach (right across the street) and rinse the dirty dog smell off of my right hand before the service, as I knew I would be shaking the hand of many a parishoner on this sunny sunday morning. In fact, there was much hand shaking and hugging after the ceremony.

Staniel Cay is an excellent chill-out vacation destinaion. Small island, one Yacht Club, the friendliest locals ever, rental cottages on the beach, each with its own little Boston Whaler on the dock out front, snorkeling, diving, sport fishing, and festive night socials at the Yacht Club. My kinda place.... I can see myself coming back here with some special female at some point later on..... Staniel Cay is definately a BYOW kinda place. (Bring Your Own Women)

Now we are at Black Point Settlement, Great Guana Cay, Exumas, Bahamas. Not much here except for one of the NICEST LAUDRAMATS I have ever been to in my life! The only laundramat I have ever been to where there is a beach in the back yard where you can hang out as the machines clean and dry your clothes. Very cool. There I go again with the "very cool". It's a good thing.

The "Boiling Frog" Principle

In Al Gore's swan song enviromental manifesto "An Inconvenient Truth", he draws an analogy I will refer to as "the boiling frog principle". The boiling frog principle is an analogy: If one were to take a live frog and drop him into a pot of already boiling water, the frog would be immediately shocked into jumping out of the water. However, if one put the same frog into a pot of lukewarm water, and then sloooowly and gradually turned up the heat, one could conceivably begin to cook the frog alive, because the temperature of the water rises so gradually that the frog doesn't really ever notice how hot it's getting. Al Gore draws this analogy with respect to the earth's environmental issues, and why people are not "shocked" into taking action to save the earth.... the destruction is happening too gradually.

In the case of Team Audax, we have almost (but not quite) been taking for granted just how frickin' AWESOME it is to be cruising on a sailboat in the BAHAMAS. We started out in the Gulf of Maine, in the dark of night, high seas, 20 degrees Farenheit, snowing, dressed as if we were going skiing for the day, counting the minutes until it's our turn to go below and fire up "Mr. Heater" to thaw our fingers and toes. That was about seven weeks ago. Now, as I type this, I'm wearing only surf shorts and foot flops, it's sunny and 80 degrees outside, and I had to jump in the water this morning at around 9am because I had sweat beading on my brow. If I could have bridged these two opposing and contrasting scenarios with a two hour airline flight, I would have arrived at a Bahama beach and jumped into the water exclaiming "Holy SHIT!! This is frickin' AWESOME!! WOOHOO!!". The shock of the sudden enviroment change in full effect. But the sloooow and gradual nature of our journey South has demonstrated the other half of the boiling frog principle. It has happened so gradually, that we sometimes lose sight of the following.....

WE'RE DOING IT. We're doing what Team Audax has set out to do as we departed Strout's Point Marina in Freeport, Maine, on November 19th, 2007. Back home in Maine, there are FEET of snow on the ground, and they are enduring one of the most brutally cold and snowy winters in recent memory. We, however, are sailing in lovely Tradewind breezes, through shallow calm crystal clear turquoise water, shirts off, getting tan, meeting new people, and exploring strange new worlds we have never seen. Just this morning I had about six or so small yellow finch type birds using my fingers as perches as they ate sugar out of the palm of my hand. I have never done that before. A microcosm of "mission accomplished".

Now.... somebody please turn the heat down on the pot.... it's getting hot in here.

[Disclaimer: No frogs were harmed in the writing of this blog entry. Perhaps if it were "The Grilled Frog" principle, that would be a different story. I cannot, however, make claims for Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth".]

Chart Plots

Self-explanitory. Plagiarized directly from http://www.caribbeanendeavour.com/ Thanks, Johnboy! Don't forget, as always, to click on any image to enlarge it......

"Poopyjuice!!"

We have a stinky little dilemma here on S/V Audax. We have overfilled our blackwater holding tank. (blackwater: peepee and poopoo) Normally, this would not be a problem. However, the aggressive boat motions of a few heavy seas sailing excursions have fatigued the hose connections to the holding tank, and they drip poopyjuice. Also, as we sail in moderate seas everyday, the boat motions cause poopyjuice to spurt and ooze out of the holding tank vent on the side of the boat. This usually sends fresh poopyjuice vapors wafting directly aft into the cockpit. Also, the leaky fittings drip poopyjuice into the bilge, making the vapors virtually inescapable anywhere in the forward area of the cabin. As a matter of fact, I can smell them as I type this in the main salon. You may be saying to yourself: "So, just empty the holding tank!".... not that simple. This vessel is not piped with a loop to pump the contents of the holding tank overboard. Ironically enough, marinas in the Bahamas to not posess holding tank pumpout capabilies, because it is legal to pump blackwater overboard anytime/anywhere in the Bahamas. DOH!! We have decided (accepted) to live with poopyjuice odors until we can find a marina who can pump out the tank. You will know when this happens, as I will be writing about it. It will be cause for celebration here on S/V Audax. Until then, consider "poopyjuice" the word of the day for today. It's kinda fun to say! "POOPYJUICE!!" It's fun.... try it. "POOPYJUICE!!"

The Lizards

"The Lizards were a race of people practically extinct from doing things smart people don't do. He said that he was once a lizard, too."

-Phish "The Lizards"

Behold: The Allen's Cay Iguanas!

The Exumas!

NOTE: Technical difficulties today. Limited pics. Sucks, too cuz I have some good ones I wanted to post!! Frustrating. Sloooow connection here at Warderick Wells, Exumas......

VERY COOL. Exumas are a string of little islands running North/South through the middle of the Bahamas. Most are uninhabited, with beautiful turquoise shallow water all around, and white sand beaches. The first was Allen's Cay. Home of the Allen's Cay Iguanas. Lots of boats in this anchorage, as it's a popular landing point for cruisers departing Nassau. Spent a night there, I slept up in the cockpit under the stars and breeze. Next day, we sailed from Allen's Cay South to Hawksbill Cay. Perfect sailing conditions: 10-15kts Easterly breeze, minimal seas, 20ft deep turquoise water all around..... just like you see in the cruising charter ads in sailing magazines. Hawksbill Cay is very cool.... only two other boats here, and it's a State Park with moorings just yards from the beach. Today we sail on South to Warderick Wells. I'd love to shower and get online... maybe do some laundry?