Now I seek my own volunteer crew or even better... my permanent sailing companion

As I write this recap, I'm still in Playa Del Carmen another couple nights. This was the second winter in a row of seeking volunteer crew positions and while quite different experiences neither ended up being the kind of thing a sane person would volunteer for. Certainly I've gained new insights and perspectives on spending an extended amount of time living on a sailboat of a size I'd likely end up getting to live aboard for my near future. One thing that keeps me interested despite the negative aspects is what I hear time and again from various other people cruising and living aboard.... "Don't base what you decide on being volunteer crew, it's a whole other world and far better experience when you're on your own boat". No doubt. Anyway I chose the captain seeking crew to help sail from the Florida Keys to Rio Dulce Guatemala. At the time I had emailed interest but passed on another boat heading from North Carolina to Puerto Rica. That was a ...

This is a story about a sailboat that was in Marathon when we were there waiting for a weather window. I was told by captain that 2 of the 3 guys on a boat docked just across from us were from the sailboat Pumpkin Pie. He reminded me of how he and various other dudes hanging out at Marathon waiting thought it crazy this boat had actually left to sail direct to Isla Mujeres during the arrival of a cold front.. The captain said they got de-masted in heavy seas and had to cut it loose as the boom was banging against the hull and they worried it might punch a hole. Apparently the fore stay gave way and it fell back then the port shroud and it was in the water on the starboard side held to the boat by back stay and starboard shroud. Anyway yesterday I talked to the owner and got more details. He blamed it on the failure of a steal pin that was involved with attaching the fore stay to the bow.. Call it lack of inspection or maintenance. He did mention the seas being up to 6' but...

Of course I'm writing this possibly weeks before we will arrive to Mexico and can post it with our next WiFi access. We left Marathon, Florida about 10 am Sunday the 12th. We were to meet the Canadian brothers out at Sombrero Reef but as we approached it decided to call and tell them we were going to just keep on going. Since we sail faster but they motor faster we really weren't planning to actually stay together. We were motor sailing with fairly light NW winds. About 3 miles out past the Reef Marker the wind was more directly behind us and in the process of the captain attempting to rig the main for a tailwind the helm was left unattended briefly and a wave tossed the boat in such a way that the unattended rudder was forced beyond its maximum and got jammed hard to starboard. 90 degrees to the keel line actually. This brought great drama as the captain suddenly made a Mayday Mayday Mayday distress call giving the boat name, location and our loss of rudder. Now I...

Sorry again for no photos but it's been more of the same.  I'm quite hopeful this next planned departure this coming Sunday will be a go.  I have a felling the Canadians will leave the day before but the captain suddenly needed to have his prop cleaned and a new sacrificial since put on the shaft.  Still I really really feel we will go this time.. And happily we are heading to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.. Our route I won't disclose at this time....maybe never?  So if we go it will be a while before I post again...although I might write a post or two to post later.  

Today is has been one month since arriving to Marathon Florida and living on the sailboat I've volunteered as crew. I've gotten a good taste of living on a boat on a mooring at a popular live aboard marina. It's become routine, even the 6 or 7 weather window postponements. I'm not sure if that includes the most recent one...tomorrow. We were to set out tomorrow but again the window shortened and this time what follows beginning Monday will be the strongest winds we've had. I've heard possibly as high as 40 knots. It's clear to me the captain is not interested in any kind of a batten down the hatches and take waves crashing into the cockpit (which lacks a dodger) kind if crossing. The day we turned back after actually heading put a couple miles into a light south headwind seems like a mistake to me but what do I know? It's not my boat and I'm doing this to learn. One positive thing is we've been waiting for the illusive weather window long...

Believe it or not we are still in Marathon, Florida waiting and waiting for a weather window to head south. As it was Christmas we decided to check out a Christmas pot luck an area restaurant/bar 'Dockside' was hosting.. They were to provide turkey, ham and potatoes and guests were to bring something to share. It was advertised via posters and word of mouth that the pot luck would begin at 3 pm but the bar would open at noon. In addition to what food you would bring, a $5 donation was requested. We chose to arrive at 2:45 only to discover the hordes who had arrived for the bar time attacked the food as soon as anything was set on the table. We found that the turkey was gone and so were the potatoes, though I did manage the final spoonful of them. There were several nice salads and plentiful pies and cookies which seemed to increase as others arriving even later than us added their items. I sought coffee to go with my plate of pie and cookies but no such luck. We brough...

I think this is the 3rd Sunday I've been here since arriving December 4th. I've refrained from joining the football watching group and have just wasted away the afternoon online. We had or second breakfast at the nearby American Legion Post which serves a $7 breakfast that's quite a value. It's funny but I guess in Florida you can smoke in bars in fact I've seen it at restaurants too. A few I assume regulars to the legion are there at the bar smoking and drinking Bloody Mary's and the like.. Last time someone even got a pitcher of beer.. This at 8:00 am Sunday. Anyway the breakfast is good. Another value place to eat out has been the cafeteria at the nearby Fishermen's Hospital. Interesting name for a hospital. $5 for a pretty decent lunch that would be more like $10 at least in a restaurant. We only eat lunch out as we are in doing WiFi, showers, etc.. Generally we head back to the boat about 3 or 4 pm. Also, I finally figured out how to download...

We had originally planned a Wednesday evening departure but due to a change in the wind forecast we now plan to set out tomorrow, Saturday, December 14. That is of course unless the wind forecast changes yet again. Since Wednesday we've had quit a bit of rain mostly yesterday and last night. Today was nice but it's raining again now..6:30 pm Friday. I would assume we've gotten several inches of rain. We want fairly light winds when we cross the Gulf-stream the flows west to east an average 3.5 knots. Winds against a current create much rougher, steeper seas. It's going to take us a while to get to Mexico and we wanted a window of lighter winds. That seems hard to come by this time of year. It might be quite a few days until we have Internet again. I'll be posting this tomorrow morning. The daily showers and Internet have been nice but I'm anxious to see what's next. This just in!! Ha.. After checking the latest weather we won't be departing ...

Today was the day we were to leave on, although at sundown. Our departure is now looking like mid day this Saturday. I had a nice morning reading as Larry made 2 trips to buy gasoline. His boat has a gas Atomic 4. We topped up the tank and have the 3 five Fallon jugs full. That's 40 gallons total. As I stayed back on the boat I made coffee for the first time and only the second time since leaving Minnesota. Who says coffee..caffeine is addictive? I guess it's because lately I only have one mug each morning unlike the past. I enjoy the taste and like it but here I am using generic instant on an every now and then basis. It was threatening rain all morning but held off. Larry made one more dingy run to bring his boat neighbor Al to the marina to catch a bus. The dingy is a 2 person ride. Once we were both on our way to the marina it began to drizzle and after showers when on the Internet we had heavy rain for quite a while. It provided a longer than usual online se...

Before I arrived to Florida, a couple of Canadian Brothers had set out for Rio Dulce, Guatemala.  They had planed to cross to Cuba and work along to the west end and then cross to the Yucatan Channel.  We recently found out they only made it out 30 miles and their drive shaft broke. Apparently it had been broken once before and repaired. They had hit some crab pots and had cut the rope loose that had wrapped around the shaft but the mechanic didn't seem to think that caused the break. They sailed back and eventually were towed to the Marathon Boatyard. We dingied over and chatted with them the day they were to have the boat taken out. One brother was helping the other sail down there. He plans to live down there. It sounded like it would all end up costing about $5,000. He still hopes to get down to Guatemala in time for his brother to fly home for Christmas. I hope our boat don't have any similar problems. A change in the wind forecast has us leaving mid day this...

I've already briefly posted about the Marathon City Marina where the boat is moored. It's really a large number of boats moored here like 280 when full and another maybe 100 anchored. They are all live-aboards according to Larry. I decided to walk around today and take a few photos of the marina. I guess renting a mooring is $330 a month and you get a lot for that. It's not all retired people in fact not even mostly. There are a lot of couples and families and pets. Everybody is friendly. There are 2 dingy dock areas, an outer one and an inner one. We've been using the inner one. There is a nice thatched roof palapa and office building with a large area with tables, outlets and WiFi. Also, there are 2 areas for TV watching with theater seats. A group was very into watching the football games especially the 2 in the snow storms in Pennsylvania. Next comes a large repair and maintenance area with various tools, work stations and storage lockers. In the few ...

I've had 3 restful nights aboard my host's sailboat and one time out sailing and a few visits to the marina facilities. There are nice showers and laundry of course and a big group area with WiFi and a couple TV viewing rooms and huge library. I'm learning I'll have minimal Internet time as we are going here and there.? Planning to head out for Mexico next Wednesday weather permitting. There are like 280 mooring balls and it cost about $330 a month which seems pretty good.. Includes the facilities and one holding tank pump out per week. We've been doing little projects but basically the boat is in great shape. This manatee comes regularly to the fresh water hose for filling water jugs in your dingy hoping it was not tightly closed.. I saw one guy and later some kids giving it water and he seemed very happy for that. I guess it's technically against the law?