For Anna and Andrew

This is a special blog post, just for my niece's two wonderful children, Anna and Andrew.

UD - Uncle Denny to those of you out of the family - snapped these pictures today. Nothing special, except a bit of celebrating that I am living this new life. The weather has been almost perfect for the last couple days, and as I was departing AF, I decided to stop and take a couple of pictures of her - here is one - and thought the you two - Annah and Andrew - might like to see where UD is today. There is no snow to play in here. Just hot, sunny days, like when we went to your pool last summer. And I hear that Anna is getting the mail now at your new house, which is a very important job to have, so I must buy a postcard and send one to you, and one to Andrew.This picture turned out better than expected. When I arrived here, the water was very cloudy, and has continued to clear. This is the bottom, from 15 ft above. I took a bit of a swim today and for the first time, bothered to check my anchor. It is buried deep in the sand. Did you know that UD is back in the same place that he was when he bought your T-shirts last year, with the funny pictures of the fish. I have seen other people wearing the same ones and I think of you guys every time. This is an old sailboat that sailed past me the other day, during the schooner races here. I took the picture for my friend Mike, who lives up near your great-grandmother in Millersville. He also has an old sailboat, too.

On my way to the store in my dinghy, I spied this old boat which is stuck in the mud. Can you believe that? Someone got their boat stuck in the mud, and just left it there and went home. So, can you find the bird in this picture? She is sitting on the prow of this old boat. She is a pelican. She is cleaning her feathers, with her big bill. I wonder how she can do that so easily because her bill is so big. Do you guys know how a pelican catches her fish? The bottom of her beak is a big pouch, that stretches out so she can carry more than one fish, if she wants. She can take them home and eat them later, just like UD picking up Chinese dinner and bringing it to your house to eat at your table with you. Do you think she would share her fish dinner with you? Do you WANT her to share her dinner with you? Yuck!
And this picture is a white crane, who was busy searching for fish to eat, in the shallow waters near shore. She was doing very well and catching a LOT of fish, so it was hard for UD to take a picture, when she was standing still. She wouldn't stop, and smile and say CHEESE for me. Her belly must have been getting full.
I heard today that Anna is 4 and 1/2 years old now, and taking reading lessons, and so I asked her what a hard word was that she had learned, and she told me, "BOOK". And I agree. That is a very hard word to learn, when you are taking reading lessons. I am glad that you learned it, though, and I want you to keep learning new words to read.

And Andrew and I talked on the phone, too, and he told me that he is TWO. Wow.

So, I know that playing in the snow is a lot of fun, but for me, playing in the water is a lot of fun too. I miss you guys, and love you very much. And I know that you are coming to see me sometime, even if it means you get to fly on an airplane. They are fun, too, and it is very exciting to fly. Ask your Pappy.

Love - UD

Making Water

I ran out of water the other day, in my second tank, which may have not been full when I departed Bermuda. Friend Jean was there to help me get into the fuel dock, and had had a bit too much rose already that day, so was harassing me repeatedly for spending so much on very expensive fuel. So, I think, to shorten the time being harangued, I may have turned off the hose a bit early.

Regardless, I made water yesterday. The start and finish require sitting in the hot engine room, with the genset running, to get the watermaker set up, and the same for the shut down. I was hot, and sweaty, so took my 'bath' later by diving into the water for a swim. No soap. Perhaps a bit cleaner and not so smelly, but with mussed hair, stained and dirty shorts, faded work t-shirt, and 2 days of beard growth, I went into Marigot. Stopped to drop off some things with Bernard, for his boat yard's flea market (thanks to Davina's urging, I might add.), picked up a FedEx package from Wes in Baltimore, and rode over to visit Jean, and his brother-in-law. Was so close to Marigot Marina, and all of the restaurants, decided to keep going and get a pizza for supper.

There were some fellows hanging about where I tied up, and ended asking a waitress if, dressed so poorly, I could dine there, as it was closer, where I could keep an eye on the dink. Was a very nice restaurant, and being the only customer, I sat right out on the sidewalk, in a corner. I ordered some cheese and nuts for aperitif, a chef special seafood hors devours, and grilled grouper with a wonderful coconut and lime sauce. A vodka tonic, and a couple of glasses of rose. Was a very nice meal, and as folks walked by, they would ask me if the food was good. My recomendations helped seat 3 or 4 tables of folks, and the waitress treated me extra well. One group was 6 or 7 women, my age, I guess, who were dressed to the 9's and were just having a ball. They were nice enough to ask me to join them, and I am so glad I did. We had a wonderful evening, taking one lady for a ride out to AF to turn the anchor light on, and back, and they have invited me to join them again tonight.

Worked on relocating the relief valve today - see Paul, I am working on the steering! - and that is done, and tomorrow I will start running the new copper lines. Have it all figured out now.

The other day I stumbled on a name on the internet, that I believed was a young man whom I had known as a little boy in NC. He had the nicest father and mother, and my then wife, worked for the dad. We became friends and this little guy was my favorite kid in the world. We would baby sit once in a while for a weekend, giving mom and dad time to be alone, and it gave my wife and I a chance to play aunt and uncle. His dad stood with me at my wedding, and today is a very successful man. He is also one of those people you meet in life who deserves the success, as he is really a self made man. And a wonderful one. This young fellow was on track to follow in his dad's footsteps, and lo and behold, stopped, thought, and took the call to become a minister. Columbia Seminary, as well! It thrilled me to read this on the web, and impulsively, I sent him an email commending his choice and wishing him success. It was meant to have been anonymous, for various reasons, but he figured out who I was, and has sent me 2 very kind emails, making me glad that I reacted to the impulse to write. It has renewed my faith in the generations following behind me.

By the way, I have been getting repeated passive aggressive comments from Joyce in emails, referencing the garden that must be growing on AF's bottom now, since I have not moved in over a month. Well, I checked yesterday during my 'bath' and other than a thin coat of something on the rudder, she is pretty clean. Guess this bottom paint is good for this area. But will hook up the hookah some day and give her a good scrub.

Paul and Joyce, I really believe, are harassing me to get going, because the MISS me. Maybe not. Another reason could be that Paul just needs a punching bag or someone to go up his mast again, and maybe Joyce expects me to pay for diving lessons, now that she is certified instructor and she needs some cash. I love them both and miss them, too. If you have followed this blog for anytime, then you know that Paul is my friend and sailing mentor. I am here today, because they asked me to join them last year for the Norfolk to St. Marten leg of their journey. He coordinated the email suggestions for me during my ordeal at sea in November, as well as trying to keep my spirits up. Even wrote to my family asking them to be positive to me when I arrived, as what I had gone through would be such a psychological nightmare. (Of course, he never told me he had done that. Had to find out from my niece.) He is my best cheerleader, for sure. We met one day on the dock in Baltimore, after I had transited from St. Pete. We connected instantly. And Joyce is a love, and a doll, and one hell of a photographer, who makes me envy her 'eye'. But I can skip her Lemon Grass morning tea. Need my coffee.

Bought a broom the other day. Again, Davina's doing. Have TWO vacume cleaners, and a wisk broom that came with the boat, but no real broom (She said," I cannot believe you don't have a broom on this boat! How do you clean the floor?" I guess the answer was apparent!) And, guess what? I used it today. How about that! Also scrubbed the top of the stove, and really cleaned up the galley. But, there is something dead in the fridge that I have not been able to locate, and it will require a complete emptying of it, and a good scrubbing with a clorox solution, and that could take me hours.

Tonight, I am off to Ric's for some good internet to get this posted, and then Lobster Thermidor at Pineapple Pete's with the girls from last night. What a wonderful life I have now.

I am blessed.

Designs

I visited another Morgan 462 the other day and took some pictures of the salon. Jaime, a Canadian, came by a few days ago to visit here, and to see AF. He has a different salon design, with the original dining table on the starboard side, but, we believe, a re-built set of chairs on the port side. Mine has been re-done at some point, as I have read or heard that what Morgan put there either didn't last or was not so comfortable. I am not sure which. I like the chairs alot, and he even has a piece of plywood which spans both seats, with lee cloth, for a berth when underway. So, I snapped some pics to keep in the event I ever want some ideas for a re-model. His boat does not have the cabinet above the sink, which gives it a much more open and airy feeling, but he loses that stowage to gain it.

Below, I snapped some pics of my hydraulic situation, at the stern, under the berth and center cushions. Using MS Paint, I added some lines as to what the design will require, to give a bit of idea of my troubles in HOW to actually install them. It is easy to draw out the design on paper with Line A going to Port A with Tee A inserted with to accept Line B.

The reservoir is under the starboard mattress, and is difficult to get to thru its own little access panel. I think that I will change the purple relief valve to face forward, and be parallel with the cylinder/ram. I have to cross the bilge/centerline twice with lines, and not sure the best way to do that. Note that the emergency tiller (white verticle pipe) is back on, in case I have to move in an emergency. The 2 rubber hydraulic lines might have been a waste, unless I use them from the purple relief valve to the cylinder.

Friend Bart, in NC, sent me some cheap solar LED yard lights, which I asked for. I have seen folks using them on their boats, either as light for sitting in the cockpit at night, or to mark themselves to other boats at night. A light closer to the water is easier to see, as you whiz by in a tender, than the anchor light, which is very visible from a distance. So, I drilled some holes in the top and strung them with string so they can be hung. (One has already chewed through the string, and fallen to the deck, so, if you look closely on the left side of the 2nd picture below, you can see it propped up in between some stowed SS pipe.) One is shown here - the silver cylinder between the solar panel and wind genny. The other light hanging on the right of picture is an incandescent lamp with a railroad lattern battery and solar eye. I leave it there in case I might depart in the daylight, and return after dark, without having to turn on the anchor light at the top of the mast, to burn for unnecessary hours.Passing rains today, so it might have been imprudent to do laundry, but all of my favorite shirts stink. So I snapped this for you. Taking 4-5 clothes pins to hang in these gusts. I just hope my favorite shirts are still there in an hour or 2.

When doing the laundry, I ran out of water in my 2nd tank, so today, come hell or high water, I must MAKE water. That means that I have used about 190 gallons since departing Bermuda with 2 full tanks. Will be like a sauna in the engine room, but must do it.

But, life is good.

As Erik says - Is GREEN energy

Below, are 2 pictures of my new solar panel and AirX wind generator installation. I am not happy with the solar panel install, but will fine tune it as I figure out what it should look like. It appears that in a decent wind, I will now only have to run my diesel generator every other day, to top the batteries off, and to cool down the refridgerator and freezer, which are still 110V AC and require too much power to use an inverter. The panels are Kyocera 75 Watt each and I can add 3 more of that size to this controller. I also had the starboard side (left in the picture) post changed to add another AirX, if I choose, or another brand, perhaps to compliment this one. The good news is that there are now about 4 boxes in the trash bin, instead of taking up space in the Vberth, forward. Slowly, I am getting things straightened out, and projects are moving forward. However, today, the winds and swell, again, are too much to do any productive work aboard. And you have a good picture of what I see each day from my back porch. Water is beautiful and so is the landscape ashore.

I stopped at Bernard's on the way in, and found that my friend, Jean has returned from France, to find that his boat has been ransacked. Not much stolen, at first glance, but the mess is big, and he said he is glad that Josieanne was not here to feel the violation of the break in. What a shame. My first package has arrived from the US, and I am learning about shipping economics. Will not do that again, I think, with the cost of shipping. But, I needed what it contains, and will have to consider it a lesson learned.

Another day in semi-paradise. Life is good!

Parking Lots

For the cruiser, the dinghy is the car. There are very basic ones and some huge tenders for the yachts, which probably cost nearly what I paid for AF. But we all park in the same parking lots, which also vary from place to place. So, below you will find some pictures of various docks provided for the cruisers, here in St Martin.
When you arrive on the French side, in Marigot, this is the dinghy dock where everyone must tie up to visit Immigration, and also, to pay for your anchorage on the outside. (The French do NOT charge to anchor on the inside, in the Lagoon, just outside. Crazy.)
Here is one at a supply house for boaters. If you want to do business with the cruiser, you must provide a place to dock.

About the worst place I have found yet. This is the French branch of Budget Marine, located just inside the entry to the Lagoon, before the bridge. The current is almost always flowing, and the wakes from the boat traffic will beat your dinghy to death here, making it crash up against the dock and the other boats.My favorite store here, is Island Water World, and they have a very large dock for their patrons.This is a dock shared by the rigging company, a marina, and Lagoonie's Bar and Restaurant, where I first met Davina. The marina operates a 'crew quarters' there, where, for $25 a night, you get a room with a bed - period. But, for the crewman looking for the next job or sailor looking for a boat to depart with, it is a great place to network with other sailors.If you serve liquor and beer and food, you had better provide a way in for the boaters.Just out of the picture to the left is the hulk of an old boat, tied up to that dock, and it is a very popular place for pizza and beer, and attracts a lot of the young tourists and yacht crews and the parties go on late into the night.Perhaps the most pathetic dock I know so far, is at Barnard's boat yard. This one is mostly rotting pallets placed on top of the rotting dock structure. You really have to be careful where you step. Here is where my friend Jean, after a long evening of rose wine, fell into the water trying to navigate the dock, into his dink.And I saved the best for last. This is the Marigot marina, where the fine restaurants and tourist shops line this 3 sided walkway, filled with tourists during the day, and the wealthy dining at night.Today, the anchorage in Marigot, where AF has been now for a month, (I arrived December 24th) has very large swells, high winds with higher gusts, and AF is rolling, and pitching so badly that I cannot work aboard. The parts and tools slide away, and roll onto the floor, and I have just given up working on the steering for the day, and decided to run some errands, instead. I paid my anchorage fee for the last month - Don't ask how much! - and will pick up some good connectors for the wind genny, as the ones I used were very cheap automobile connectors. I also need to buy a slow fuse to put inline with the cable to the batteries. And a cash machine visit as well. And, perhaps a couple cold ones before the dink ride back to the French side and AF, to stand anchor watch. It is predicted to last another day or 2. (I saw, for the first time, a boat dragging anchor, inside by the moorings in Marigot. The captain must have put out only 10 or 15 feet of rode (chain) because it didn't take must breeze to move his boat.)

So that is a little tour of trivia, and what I see here, in my day to day travels around the area, here at the beginning of my new life.

Updates

Windy, roll-y night ahead, with the rudder swinging into its stops, as the hydraulics are disconnected still. This is going to be a long night I think, and if if makes you feel any better, those back there at home in the cold, it is also raining from time to time, sometimes quite hard. But, on to good news.

The wind generator is installed along with two 75 Watt solar panels, and THEY WORK! Not happy at all with the installation of the solar panels, but this is my first attempt and I was hesitant about what I really wanted. It think they might be better on top of the bimini, but these are on the davits, for now. They are small, and the controller has room for 3 more of this size, I think. I will post a picture or 2 when I can climb the mizzen a bit to get a picture looking down.

The French electrician was playing with my camera and snapped this one so I have posted it as is better than the last of the new necklace! Ha! But I still needed a shave and bath, and I am sure smelled just as bad as in the last.

I also ran into Davina at a beach club tonight, and her friend snapped this pic of us. She has spent 3 days provisioning with her new captain, and they depart St Martin tomorrow. Taking the southern route, to Panama. I will probably beat them there, as they will island hop for quite a while, I think.

Inspired by Davina, and was already cleaning up after the electrical work, today continued and I washed the wood down in the aft cabin. There are parts of it that I have not seen for a couple months, and the mildew was starting to grow! The boat is slowly emptying of its packages. And after the wash, I applied wood polish as well, and it is pretty shiny back there now.

I also stopped at the trawler with the bird, mentioned in the last post, to ask a question, and was invited aboard for a cup of tea as they ate their breakfasts. Very nice Germans, who are Canadians, now. They departed almost immediately, but will return in a day or 2, and I hope to take a couple pictures of the interior for Bart, as well as getting some particulars. The boat was custom built for them in Brazil. He intentionally painted the hull "battleship grey" to keep the bad guys away, and the boat has a fishing trawler and very commercial looking exterior.

So, that is the latest from St. Martin.

For Denise

My niece, Denise, emailed today to ask me to post a picture of me wearing my new necklace, so here it is for you, Denise. I am not so photogenic under normal conditions, but you should know that I had to take about 20 pictures to finally accept this crummy one. Hair a mess, and needing a shave, and phew, if you could smell me!! Might have one taken of me tomorrow, in the sunlight, and after a shower!
Denise and husband, Erik have just moved from Maryland to York, Pa, and I am sure are busy making the new house, a new home. I am very excited for them, and know the kids, whose picture is at the bottom of the blog page, are having fun in their new digs.
Just to update what I am doing: The solar panels and wind generator SHOULD be fully functional tomorrow. I have hired a young French guy to assist me; he claims to be an electrician, among other things, so we shall see if his skills match his mouth. The steering continues to stump me a bit, but I am slowly progressing, I think. Will work on the electrics tomorrow and then back to steering. Mike, the electrician and I travelled today to the different supply houses for connectors and some additional wire and to Ace Hardware, where I bought some fittings and tubing for the hydraulics.
I am excited that I will be making 12 volt soon. Not sure the noise from the generator will be acceptible, though. But the solar is very quiet!
The other morning, when I was trying to get some extra sleep after another late night out, someone was close to my boat and whistling at me. Mostly a wolf whistle, but also one to get your attention. I could not figure where it came from. Later, I dinked over to a beautiful trawler anchored very close - I posted a pic of it a few posts back for friend, Bart - and called for the owner/captain. "Is it posssible that you have a bird on board?" I asked. "Yes, we have a parrot up on the second deck." So that solved the mystery of the wolf whistles. The bird has been on one of their boats for 18 years, and 10 on this one, and seems to have free reign of this 2nd deck, as I see him moving on the roof of his cage and over to a wooden stand they have for him. He is still up tonight and whistling, so is time to cover his cage, I think. They have a cute puppy aboard as well.
For Denise and all - I am so proud of and happy for you. And looking forward to your visit some day, when you can make the time. UD